Study these examples:
- I phoned the restaurant to reserve a table.
- What do you need to make bread?
- We shouted to warn everybody of the danger.
- This letter is to confirm the decisions we made at our meeting last week.
- The president has a team of bodyguards to protect him.
In these examples
to ... (
to reserve ... /
to make ... etc.) tells us the
purpose of something: why somebody does something, has something, needs something etc. or why something exists.
Compare for ... and to ... :
| for + noun | to + verb |
| We stopped for petrol. | We stopped to get petrol. |
| I had to run for the bus. | I had to run to catch the bus. |
You can say '
for somebody
to do something':
- There weren't any chairs for us to sit on, so we sat on the floor.
You can use
for -
ing or
to ... to talk about the
general purpose of something, or what it is generally used for:
- I use this brush for washing the dishes. or ... to wash the dishes.
But we do not use
for -
ing to say why somebody does something:
- I went into the kitchen to wash the dishes. (not for washing)
You can use
What ...
for? to ask about purpose:
- What is this switch for?
- What did you do that for?
So that
We use so that (not to ... ) especially
when the purpose is
negative (
so that .. .
won't/
wouldn't):
- I hurried so that I wouldn't be late. (= because I didn't want to be late)
- Eat something now so that you won't (or don't) get hungry later.
with
can and
could (
so that .. .
can/
could):
- She's learning English so that she can study in Canada.
- We moved to London so that we could see our friends more often.
You can leave out
that. So you can say:
- I hurried so that I wouldn't be late. or I hurried so I wouldn't be late.
