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Shadowing practice: How To Use the Preposition "To" | Learn English Grammar for Beginners

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  1. Hi everybody, my name is Alicia.0:00
  2. In this video, I'm going to look at how to use the preposition TO.0:02
  3. Let's get started.0:07
  4. Okay, first I want to talk about using the preposition TO to express a destination.0:08
  5. So we use TO when expressing the endpoint or the destination of a movement.0:16
  6. So we can use this form of TO when we talk about our travel experiences or just when we are talking about moving inside a room, moving inside our community0:24
  7. and so.0:35
  8. So let's take a look at how we use TO in this situation.0:36
  9. First, she went to the bank.0:40
  10. Here TO is before the destination.0:43
  11. In this case, the bank.0:46
  12. She went to the bank.0:48
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  1. The bank is the destination or the endpoint of her movement.0:50
  2. We use this with the past tense verb.0:54
  3. Next example is they drove to Mexico.0:57
  4. They drove to Mexico.1:01
  5. In this case, the destination or the endpoint is a country, Mexico.1:02
  6. We put TO before the endpoint here to mark this.1:07
  7. Again, we have a movement verb in this sentence.1:11
  8. So here we have drove, the past tense of drive.1:14
  9. Our first example was went, the past tense of go.1:17
  10. Let's look at one more example of this.1:21
  11. Let's move this meeting to a coffee shop.1:23
  12. Let's move this meeting to a coffee shop.1:26
  13. So this is an expression we can use if we want to stop having a meeting somewhere and go somewhere else to continue talking.1:28
  14. Here we have the destination or the desired in this case endpoint, a coffee shop here.1:36
  15. So this person is making a suggestion.1:43
  16. This is not a past tense example, but they're saying, let's move to this destination.1:45
  17. So they're talking about a destination in the future.1:51
  18. So we can use TO before a specific endpoint for our movement.1:54
  19. Please keep in mind you cannot use the word there in this case.2:00
  20. Sometimes I see learners say, I want to go to there or I lived to there or I went to there.2:04
  21. So we cannot use there in this position because there is not a specific endpoint.2:11
  22. We always use a specific location at the end of this TO phrase.2:17
  23. Okay, so make sure you mark those endpoints with TO.2:23
  24. Okay, let's continue to the second one.2:27
  25. Number two is for recipients.2:29
  26. So that means we use TO to mark the person receiving something.2:32
  27. So in a give and receive situation, when you want to express the person who takes the thing or who receives the thing, you can mark that person with TO.2:39
  28. Let's look at some examples.2:50
  29. Okay, first one, please send this file to the client.2:51
  30. Please send this file to the client.2:56
  31. In this case, the client is the person or the group that is receiving the file.2:59
  32. Please send this file to the client.3:04
  33. If it helps you, you can think of this person as the destination for something.3:07
  34. It has kind of the same feel.3:12
  35. That's the endpoint or the end person for the item.3:14
  36. So please send this file to the client.3:18
  37. Next one.3:20
  38. I gave my sweater to my mother.3:22
  39. I gave my sweater to my mother.3:25
  40. Again, my mother is the recipient of this object, my sweater.3:28
  41. I gave my sweater to my mother.3:33
  42. So this is one kind of example sentence.3:37
  43. There are other ways to talk about giving and receiving.3:39
  44. For example, I gave my mother my sweater is also 100 % correct.3:42
  45. It's just that this is a different pattern that you can use to express this giving and receiving situation.3:47
  46. Okay, last example, take your application to the manager.3:53
  47. Take your application to the manager.3:58
  48. So again, we have our recipient here.4:00
  49. So in the future, this person is going to take their application to this destination person, the manager in this case.4:03
  50. So we use to to mark the person who receives something or who is going to receive something.4:10
  51. They're kind of the end person or the endpoint person.4:16
  52. Okay, let's continue on to number three here.4:20
  53. So number one and number two, we're really about marking end points with people and places.4:23
  54. Number three is about marking an endpoint with time.4:29
  55. So we use this a lot when we talk about our schedules.4:33
  56. Let's look at a couple of examples and then we'll expand on this a little bit.4:37
  57. First, the meeting is 1pm to 3pm.4:41
  58. The meeting is 1pm to 3pm.4:45
  59. Here too is before 3pm.4:47
  60. It marks the endpoint for the meeting.4:50
  61. Okay, so we put to before the end time of something.4:54
  62. Let's look at one more example.4:58
  63. Her lectures are 5pm to 6pm.5:00
  64. Her lectures are 5pm to 6pm.5:04
  65. Again, we have two before the end point, the end time for the lecture.5:07
  66. So this is a very, very common use of to.5:13
  67. We use this all the time.5:16
  68. I want to mention we often use this form of to with from.5:18
  69. So from and to are often used as a pair to talk about the start point and the endpoint.5:23
  70. So we use from before the start point and to before the end point.5:31
  71. For example, the movie is from 630 to 8.5:35
  72. The movie is from 9 to 5.5:45
  73. I work from 9 to 5.5:48
  74. Again, from is before the start point and to is before the end point.5:50
  75. So we always use this pattern when we talk about end points.5:55
  76. We cannot swap the to.5:59
  77. We need to use to before the end time.6:01
  78. Okay, great.6:04
  79. Let's move on to number four then.6:05
  80. Number four also talks about an end point.6:07
  81. We also use to to refer to an end point.6:10
  82. But this is in terms of like a maximum of something.6:13
  83. When we talk about a range of numbers or a range of time periods, for example, when we want to talk about the last possible of something or the maximum6:17
  84. of something, we use to to do that.6:27
  85. So let's look at these examples.6:30
  86. First, we can accept 8 to 10 people for the event.6:32
  87. We can accept 8 to 10 people.6:37
  88. 8 to 10.6:40
  89. This gives us a range of possible people.6:41
  90. So minimum is 8 people.6:45
  91. Maximum is 10 people.6:47
  92. Inside this range is acceptable for us.6:48
  93. So 2 marks the maximum, in this case, the maximum in our range.6:52
  94. Okay, let's look at the second example.6:56
  95. The meeting will be finished in 5 to 10 minutes.6:59
  96. Again, we have a range here, 5 to 10 minutes.7:06
  97. So when you are trying to estimate the end point of your meeting, you probably are going to use an expression like this, maybe 10 to 20 minutes, or when7:10
  98. you're talking about a project you're working on, it'll be finished and maybe, I don't know, one to two days, you can use this to before the end point or7:20
  99. the maximum point for your range.7:30
  100. So this is a very, very, very useful use of 2.7:33
  101. So 5 to 10 minutes gives us the rough start point and the maximum point for our range, the end of our range.7:37
  102. Okay, one more.7:44
  103. It can take 2 to 3 weeks to review job applications.7:45
  104. It can take 2 to 3 weeks to review job applications.7:50
  105. So again, we have our range here from 2 maybe about 2 until the maximum point in our range is 3.7:53
  106. So again, we use 2 before that maximum end of our range point.8:01
  107. Okay, great.8:06
  108. So we use all of these, all of these, one, two, three, and four, are referring to some kind of end point or some kind of destination in terms of8:07
  109. a place or in terms of a person or in terms of a time.8:15
  110. Okay, so with this in our minds, let's continue on to some different uses.8:19
  111. This side of the board has some kind of different uses that are important to talk about.8:24
  112. And these are a little bit more, I guess, conceptual than the first four points we talked about.8:29
  113. So first, number five, we use 2 to express purpose.8:35
  114. It has the meaning of in order to, in order to do something.8:41
  115. So we often reduce this in order to, to just 2.8:46
  116. So let's look at some examples so you can see what this looks like.8:50
  117. First, I went to the store to get milk.8:53
  118. I went to the store to get milk.8:57
  119. So here we have this first preposition.8:59
  120. I went to the store, right, our destination.9:01
  121. So there's first 2 here is our destination 2.9:03
  122. Then we have this purpose marking to, to get milk.9:07
  123. This one tells us the purpose of our travels, right?9:12
  124. I traveled to the store or I went to the store in order to get milk.9:16
  125. So this one is a purpose 2.9:21
  126. How do you know when it's a purpose 2 or a travel 2?9:24
  127. I don't know.9:27
  128. A good hint is that there's some kind of information at the beginning of the sentence.9:28
  129. There's some kind of travel, like we see here.9:33
  130. I went to the store.9:36
  131. There's something that's already happening there.9:37
  132. And then we have extra information about the reason that happened.9:39
  133. So let's look at our second example.9:43
  134. He bought a truck to drive to work.9:46
  135. He bought a truck to drive to work.9:48
  136. Here again, we have a simple past tense statement, right?9:50
  137. He bought a truck.9:53
  138. And then to drive to work, to drive to work.9:54
  139. So he bought a truck in order to drive to work.9:58
  140. So this expresses the reason he bought the truck.10:01
  141. We use 2 to do this.10:04
  142. We do not use 4.10:06
  143. He bought a truck, 4 drive to work would be incorrect.10:08
  144. You may see some 4 driving patterns like 4 plus the ing form.10:11
  145. You may see that he bought a truck for driving for his job or something like that.10:17
  146. You might see those kinds of patterns, but we cannot put 2 and that ing form together and we cannot put 4 and drive together.10:21
  147. We cannot mix these two, 2 drive or 4 driving, but we cannot mix them.10:31
  148. Okay, let's look at one more example.10:36
  149. She got a part -time job to earn some extra money.10:38
  150. She got a part -time job to earn some extra money.10:42
  151. Again, we have a simple past tense statement.10:45
  152. She got a part -time job.10:47
  153. Why?10:49
  154. In order to earn some money.10:49
  155. So when you see this extra information, this reason for doing something, we use 2 after generally like a past tense statement, at least in these examples, we use this10:52
  156. 2 plus that extra information to express the purpose of the situation.11:04
  157. Okay, so just keep in mind that yes, there are some cases where you can use 2 plus that infinitive form or 4 plus the gerund form, but we cannot11:10
  158. mix those two different grammar patterns.11:19
  159. So please be careful of that.11:22
  160. Sometimes I see that.11:23
  161. Okay, let's move on to the last part, just some other uses.11:24
  162. So I mentioned this just now, the infinitive verb form.11:28
  163. The infinitive verb form is just the base verb form, the form of the verb you see in the dictionary if you look up a word in the dictionary.11:32
  164. So we use the infinitive form with 2, 2c, or 2by, 2go, or 2talk.11:39
  165. So when you are doing grammar practice or grammar studies, when you see infinitive form or infinitive verb form, it refers to this kind of base form of the verb,11:45
  166. 2 plus the verb.11:55
  167. So we use this sometimes in grammar patterns, like we just saw here, to talk about the purpose.11:57
  168. So when you see infinitive verb form, that means the 2 verb form.12:02
  169. Okay, another use I want to talk about is just with set expressions.12:06
  170. So set expressions can mean idioms, it can mean phrasal verbs, and so on.12:11
  171. There are lots and lots and lots of phrasal verbs and expressions that use 2, but they are different from these expressions and these uses that I talked about in12:16
  172. this lesson.12:25
  173. So I wanted to cover a few that maybe could cause some confusion, because they seem similar to points number three and four in today's lesson.12:26
  174. So a few set expressions I want to talk about are from time to time, from A to Z, and from person to person.12:36
  175. So what do these mean?12:44
  176. You see this similar from to pattern here, right?12:45
  177. But it's not like a start point and end point, really.12:49
  178. So what does this mean?12:52
  179. You might see people say from time to time.12:53
  180. This expression means sometimes or occasionally.12:56
  181. Like I like to go to the movies from time to time.12:59
  182. This just means sometimes.13:02
  183. It's a casual way of saying sometimes.13:03
  184. This expression from A to Z, you might think, what is this about the alphabet?13:06
  185. This is when we're talking about a range of something.13:12
  186. So we use this expression from A to Z when we want to express that someone can do everything or that someone is good at a wide range of things.13:15
  187. So for example, oh, that tech company, they have so many products, they have everything covered from A to Z.13:25
  188. That means that that company, that technology company, can do a lot of different things.13:32
  189. So A to Z generally means that they can do everything in like a certain field or in about a certain topic and so on.13:38
  190. So you might see from A to Z used.13:46
  191. Lastly, from person to person, from person to person.13:48
  192. So in this expression, I have person to person, but you may see this used in terms of groups of people, like from community to community, or from city to13:52
  193. city, or from country to country, and so on.14:00
  194. These usually are used to talk about differences between people, differences between places, countries, maybe languages, and so on.14:02
  195. So an example sentence about with this one might be something like, opinions are different from person to person.14:11
  196. So this means that each person has a different opinion in this example sentence.14:18
  197. So this from person to person or this from noun to noun, where the noun is the same here, refers to usually differences or maybe just kind of slight differences14:23
  198. even in each of those situations or each of those people.14:33
  199. So these are a few set expressions that might be a little bit confusing when you see them the first time because they seem to follow this pattern, but they14:38
  200. do have some specific uses.14:45
  201. And of course, as I said, there are many, many phrasal verbs that use to and other prepositions, but it's not possible to cover all the phrasal verbs in one14:48
  202. video.14:56
  203. So I wanted to introduce these uses of to in this lesson.14:56
  204. So that is it for this lesson.15:01
  205. I hope that you've got some good information about how and when to use to.15:03
  206. Of course, if you have any questions or comments, or if you want to practice making some example sentences with to, please feel free to do so in the comment15:07
  207. section of this video.15:14
  208. Also, don't forget, if you like this video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already.15:16
  209. And also, check us out at EnglishClass101 .com for some other things that can help you with your English studies.15:22
  210. Thanks very much for watching this lesson and I will see you again soon.15:28
  211. Bye!15:31

A Beginner English Speaking Practice Video on the Preposition "To"

This clip is a solo grammar lecture, not a scene between two speakers. Alicia opens with "Hi everybody, my name is Alicia." and spends the rest of the recording on one preposition. The level is A2, so the vocabulary stays simple even when the grammar point does not. At 180 words per minute the pace sits above average for the catalogue, so the clip moves faster than a typical beginner lesson, which is exactly what makes it useful for english speaking practice: you have to keep up with a real teaching pace, not a slowed down one.

Across 223 lines Alicia builds the lesson from repeated example sentences: a verb, a destination, a marker. That repetition is the asset here. The same sentence shape returns again and again with a new noun swapped in, so once you can say one of them cleanly you can say the next three almost for free. It is a lecture built for beginners who want english listening practice that doubles as production practice.

American Accent Training in a Grammar Lesson About Destinations

Alicia's own delivery is the pronunciation model here. She says "First, she went to the bank." with the destination landing hard at the end of the sentence, then "They drove to Mexico." with the same shape and a different verb. Both are short, complete, and spoken clearly, which is what makes this recording useful for american accent training even though the topic is grammar, not sounds: you are hearing how a native speaker stresses a destination noun at the end of a TO phrase.

  • "First, she went to the bank." puts the stress on "bank", the destination, not on "went".
  • "They drove to Mexico." swaps the verb and the destination but keeps the same rhythm, useful for repeating the pattern with your own places.
  • "Let's move this meeting to a coffee shop." is a suggestion, not a past event, so the pitch moves differently than the two examples before it.

How to Shadow This English Grammar Lesson, Line by Line

Work through the clip in the order Alicia teaches it, not by picking lines at random. The lesson is cumulative: each new example only makes full sense once you have the one before it in your ear.

  • Start at "Hi everybody, my name is Alicia." and "Let's get started." to get her pace and rhythm before any grammar content arrives.
  • Shadow "First, she went to the bank." on its own until the stress on "bank" feels automatic.
  • Repeat "They drove to Mexico." right after, and notice how little changes between the two sentences.
  • Move to "Let's move this meeting to a coffee shop." and match the different, forward looking tone.
  • Finish with "Please keep in mind you cannot use the word there in this case." to catch the mistake Alicia is correcting before you make it yourself.
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