‘Of’ vs ‘For’

Prepositions are parts of the English speech that introduces prepositional phrases. They are more often used than you may think, and in almost every English sentence, a preposition is present.

Two of the most commonly used prepositions are ‘of’ and ‘for’. These two, like all prepositions, indicates a relationship between objects in a particular sentence.

‘Of’ is already considered as an old English preposition. It is an unstressed from of æf. It means ‘away or away from’. The preposition ‘for’, on the other hand, initially came from ‘before’, which also means ‘on the account of’.

Examples of the preposition ‘of’:

- Of all the women in this room, you are the best looking.
- There is an abundance of oil and natural gas in the Spratly group of islands.
- The Sahara desert is one of the most remote parts of the world.
- His mother was charged with obstruction of justice.
- Of course not!

Examples of the preposition ‘for’:

- All for one and one for all!
- I see everything fair and square. Nothing is taken for granted.
- This is for Sparta!
- I am writing articles for my friend Che.
- Are you against it, or for it?

These are various meanings of the term ‘for’:

- in place of
- instead of
- in defense of
- in favor of
- with the aim, or for the purpose of
- in order to be, become, get, have, keep, etc.
- meant to be received by
- to be used in
- with regard to
- considering the general nature of
- corresponding to
- at the price of

These are various meanings of the term ‘of’:

- derived or coming from
- resulting from or caused by
- at a distance from or apart from (a specified reference point)
- relieved or separated from
- belonging to
- with reference to