read to & read for

[Loriko]

My brother, Peter, read to me every night.
Can I change "to " into "for"?
What's the difference between these two prepositions used in the above sentence?
Thanks a lot.

[Alan]

Hi,

'Read to' would use 'to' in the same way as you would say 'talk to' 'speak to' and so on - in other words straight to in the sense of face to face. 'For' in your sentence suggests that Peter reads (I presume out loud) on your behalf/to please you so that you yourself don't do the reading.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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