to

1 before vowels,; strong /tu:/

1 (used before a verb to show that it is the infinitive, but not before can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must, or ought transitivehe following senses show the patterns in which to is used.)

2 used after verbs: He lived to be 90. | I used to live in New York. | He wants to leave. | Let her leave if she wants to. | They allowed the hostages to go. | He told his men to shoot. | He told them not to.

3 used after how, where, who, whom, whose, which, when, what, or whether: I know where to go but I don't know how to get there. | She wondered whether or not to go. | She wondered whether to or not. | Would you tell me when to leave?

4 used after nouns: an attempt to make a joke | I haven't got the qualifications to apply. | There seemed to be no reason to stay.

5 after adjectives: That's very easy to say. | I'm glad to say she's making a good recovery. | We are sorry to announce the cancellation of the flight to Geneva.

6 used to refer to, or to emphasize a particular verb: `To find' takes a direct object. | It would be best to wear waterproof clothing. | What I really should have done was to say “no” straightaway.

7 used to show that someone intends to do something: They left early to catch the train. | She wore a large hat to keep the sun off her head. | I've taken some money out of the bank to buy Christmas presents.

8 used after too + adjective: It's too cold to go out. | Jim's too honest to play a trick like that.

9 used after an adjective and enough: I reckon it's warm enough to wear a T shirt. | It's cold enough to snow.

10 used to introduce a statement: To be quite honest, I've never even heard of him. | To put it another way, how are you going to get the cash to pay for it? | To begin with, let's look at Chapter 3.

11 used after the pattern There is + noun: There were plenty of things to eat. | There's also the cost to consider.

2 adverb

1 if you push a door to, or something moves a door to, it closes: The wind blew the door to.

2 come to if someone comes to, they become awake or conscious after being asleep or unconscious: John didn't come to for half-an-hour after falling and hitting his head.

3 /t@ / before vowels strong preposition

1 in a direction towards: the road to London | a journey to China | She stood up and walked to the window. | Sam threw the ball to his little sister.

2 in a direction from a particular person or thing: Chongqing is about 150 miles to the south of Chengdu. | I was sitting to the left of the President.

3 in order to be in a particular place or area: We're hoping to go to Istanbul for our holidays this year. | Don't forget; we're going to Eve's for supper tomorrow night. | I usually go to bed at 11p.m. | “Where's Emily?” “She's gone to the loo.”

4 in order to be in a particular situation, or in a particular physical or mental state: After two difficult years the company is now on the road to recovery. | She sang the baby to sleep. | The mob stoned her to death. | Wait until the lights change to green.

5 reaching as far as a particular thing: The water came right up to our knees.

6 in a position in which two things are touching: The paper stuck firmly to the wall. | cheek to cheek: They danced cheek to cheek.

7 facing something or in front of it: I sat with my back to the engine. | face to face: We stood face to face. | back to back: The two houses were back to back.

8 until and including: She can already count from one to twenty. | They stayed from Friday night to Sunday morning. | It's ten kilometres from here to Angers. | from beginning to end: She read the novel from beginning to end. | a nine-to-five job (=a typical job in which you begin work at nine o' clock and finish at five o'clock.)

9 used to show the person or thing to which actions or words are directed or to whom things belong: This is a letter to Mildred from George. | Have you told all your news to John? | You have no right to this land. | Will they give you an office to yourself?

10 used to show the person or thing that is affected by an action: a danger to your health | She's very kind to animals. | What have you done to the radio? It's not working. | There's always an element of risk to starting up a new business.

11 working for someone, or being a part of something that is necessary to make it work: Have you seen the key to the back door? | Rona's secretary to the managing director.

12 used when comparing two things, numbers etc: I know he's successful but he's nothing to what he could have been. | England beat Scotland by two goals to one.

13 used especially after verbs such as `seem', `feel', `sound' to show how things affect, concern, or influence someone: The whole thing sounds very suspicious to me. | Tickets cost -10 each and to some people that's a lot of money.

14 according to a particular feeling or attitude: to your liking/taste etc: The decor wasn't really to our liking. | to your advantage (=in a way that will help you or be good for you): You could use this information to your advantage. | to your knowledge (=according to what you know): Brookner has not to my knowledge written any books since this one.

15 to your surprise/annoyance/delight in a way that makes you feel a particular emotion: Much to her surprise she passed the exam with distinction. | To our amazement she climbed on the desk and started removing her clothes.

16 especially spoken forming something or being one of the separate parts that makes something up: We're only getting eight francs to the pound at the moment. | There are sixteen ounces to every pound. | there's more to sb/sth than meets the eye (=used to say that a person or situation is more complicated than they seem to be)

17 used when adding one number to another or when thinking about two facts at the same time: Add fifty to seventy-five. | In addition to all Ron's other problems his father died yesterday.

18 used to show that there is a certain amount of time before an event or before a particular time: Only two weeks to Christmas. | How long is it to dinner? | ten to five/twenty to one etc (=ten minutes, twenty minutes etc before a particular hour)

19 used between two numbers when you try to guess an exact number: There must have been between eighteen to twenty thousand people at the concert. | He drowned in 10 to 12 feet of water.

20 used when saying what the chances of something happening are or giving the odds in betting bet 2 (1): It's 100-1 he'll lose. | Seagram is running at 11-8.