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Dear Members of the Forum, I have a question related to the use of the construction for... to...

Here is the context:

  • At 9 am there wasn't a single newspaper in the local newsstand.
  • There must be something sentational in the papers today for them to sell out so soon.

As I understand, it means "because" in this sentence. Could you tell me please how this construction is called in English Grammar and where I can find more information about it (about this particular meaning)? I searched the Internet and I've found no information so far.

Thank you so much in advance!

Best wishes,

Ola

P.S. I read Swan, Practical English Usage (n°113), but he doesn't cover this particular meaning. Besides the way he treats the subject is not comprehensible for me.

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    Welcome to ELL. I wouldn't interpret this for as "because," but rather something like "that would cause." A paraphrase of the entire sentence is "The papers' selling out so soon suggests to me that there must be something sensational in them." Or instead of suggests to me, another paraphrase is leads me to suppose.
    – Paul Tanenbaum
    Commented Oct 25 at 15:58
  • Hello, PaulTanenbaum. May I ask what logic is being used in the sentence? I think the logic of the sentence is the following, but I am not sure. The fact that the papers today had something sensational in them was a necessary condition for them to sell out so soon.
    – Kaguyahime
    Commented Oct 26 at 9:59
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    No, @Kaguyahime, that’s not the right reading. I suspect you may not be familiar with a common usage of must. Although its literal meaning does involve necessary conditions (You must be at least 21 years old to consume alcoholic beverages in this state), it is often used to convey an estimate, a prediction, or the like (How long have I known John? I don’t know. Hmmm… It must be 25 years now). So the OP’s There must be something sensational means “I guess there’s something sensational.”
    – Paul Tanenbaum
    Commented Oct 26 at 12:07
  • Thank you very much, PaulTanenbaum.
    – Kaguyahime
    Commented Oct 26 at 12:49

4 Answers 4

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  • There must be something sensational in the papers today for them to sell out so soon.

  • There must be something dangerous in the waves for them to be causing problems for so many surfers.

for + a pronoun can refer to an antecedent.

  • The story about the comedians was about them but not about us.

What the samples above show are nouns and pronouns where the pronouns have antecedents in a sentence. A preposition followed by a pronoun is related to what comes earlier (the antecedent) in a sentence:

Here is a website that covers this topic rather thoroughly:
connecting pronouns and their antecedents

As a general guideline, that site states this:

Antecedents and pronouns need to match in terms of number (singular or plural) and gender. For purposes of clarity, try to keep a pronoun relatively close to its antecedent.

Here is just one sample sentence from that site, which has the preposition plus a pronoun:

When Abe lost his gloves, he backtracked looking for them.

his—Abe’s; he—Abe; them—gloves

That should get you started on antecedents and pronouns. Not all pronouns with antecedents appear with a preposition.

  • For them to be so rich, the Smiths must have worked hard.

for is a preposition and for them is a prepositional phrase.

We use for to talk about a purpose or a reason for something: … for Cambridge Dictionary

for + pronoun + to infinitive shows purpose or reason for something.

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  • Thank you Lambie for your detailed reply! You said "for + pronoun + to infinitive shows purpose". That is exactly what I mean. Usually it is used to talk about purpose. And it is in this meaning that DJClayworth and Barmar seemed to understand this phrase. But I think... it is not the case here. The first phrase of the context "At 9 am there wasn't a single newspaper in the local newsstand" seems to suggest that it is "There must be something sentational in the papers today" which is the reason of "for them to sell out so soon" and not vice versa!!!
    – Ola
    Commented Oct 25 at 19:49
  • That is why I asked you this question. I have never met this meaning of the construction "for...to..."
    – Ola
    Commented Oct 25 at 19:52
  • @Ola Yes, well, the reason, instead of the purpose, for them to sell out so soon is that they had something sensational.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 25 at 21:48
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OP's query on "for .....to sentences

I have a question related to the use of the construction for... to...
There must be something sensational in the papers today for them to sell out so soon.

OP is correct. The construction for... to... serves as a way to express reason or purpose. This structure is commonly used to suggest causation or purpose in English.

I. The infinitive of reason..
The infinitive is used to show reason. Please check the link.

Reference langeek.co.
Infinitive clauses can also be used to explain the reason or purpose for doing something. In this case, 'to' has the same meaning as 'in order to' or 'so as to'.
He checked his voicemail to see who has called.
https://langeek.co/en/grammar/course/517/infinitive-clauses

II. Explanation "for.... to construction..
I shall take two other examples so that the use of the prepositions "to" and "for" is clear.
In these sentences, the prepositions "for" and "to" work together to form an infinitive phrase expressing purpose, reason, or consequence.

  1. "The house is too small for us to live."
    • "For us" = affected entity (we are the ones who can't live there)
    • "to live" = purpose/action (living in the house)
  2. "The explanation in Swan Practical English usage was too difficult for me to understand."
    • "For me" = affected entity (I am the one who can't understand)
    • "to understand" = purpose/action (understanding English)
  3. "There must be something sensational in the papers today for them to sell out so soon."
    • "For them" = affected entity (newspapers are the ones selling out)
    • "to sell out" = purpose/action (selling out quickly)

The "for... to..." construction indicates:

  • Cause-and-effect relationships
  • Purpose or reason
  • Consequence or result
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For ... to doesn't mean " because". It means:

The papers would only sell out so soon if there was something sensational in them.

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When used this way, "for" is a shortened form of "in order for"

There must be something sentational in the papers today [in order] for them to sell out so soon.

And "X in order for Y" means that X is a prerequisite or requirement for Y.

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