Can I say "The organization contributes for children in developing countries" Can the word contribute have someone as objective?
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english.stackexchange.com/questions/177054/…– mstorksonCommented Feb 8, 2017 at 14:22
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It doesn't sound fluent to me. You normally contribute to something, so saying "the organization contributes for..." sounds awkward. If you mean that the organization makes contributions for a specific purpose, it would sound better to rephrase the sentence.– stangdonCommented Feb 8, 2017 at 15:53
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Thank you mstorkson and stangon for taking your time to answer my question! I really appriciate.– user49244Commented Feb 10, 2017 at 14:39
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1 Answer
Depending on your meaning, probably not. The sentence you've provided is unclear.
If the organization is contributing money to children in developing countries, you would use to.
The organization contributes to children in developing countries.
The use of for is ambiguous, because it can mean one of two things:
The organization contributes for children
In this case it can mean the same as the above to sentence, or it can also mean on behalf of the children. So perhaps the children gave the money to the organization and asked the organization to give the money to someone.
I was unwell, so my brother posted the letter for me.
In this case it means he posted the letter (on my behalf).
There was a cake addressed to her, and a cake addressed to me. First, she opened the cake for me. Then she opened her own cake.
In this case, she opened the cake that was intended to be given to me. She didn't open it on my behalf (for example, because I was not strong enough to open it).
Because of the ambiguity it doesn't sound very natural to a native speaker to use for in this case, and you should use to.
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Thank you very much for taking your time to answer my question. It was easy to understand! Commented Feb 10, 2017 at 14:37