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Usage of Sacrifice to and sacrifice for

Rhea446

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24 May 2013, 21:08

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Between the two sentences mentioned below, which one is correct and why. A detailed explanation would be appreciated.

1. Would you sacrifice a lot of money for going to Europe?

2. Would you sacrifice a lot of money to go to Europe?

Cheers-
Rhea

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24 May 2013, 22:05

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I think the Preposition that goes along with sacrifice is for.
we say Sacrifice X for Y... and not Sacrifice X to Y

Hope that helps!!!

Consider kudos if my post helps!!!

Archit

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24 May 2013, 22:11

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I don't see anything wrong with both idioms - sacrifice .. to .. and sacrifice.. for .. Unfortunately when a usage is idiom, there is no valid explanation :-(

bev

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24 May 2013, 22:52

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I believe it is purely Idiomatic usage between 'to' and 'for' like Archit correctly mentioned.

pqhai

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24 May 2013, 23:27

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Rhea446

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25 May 2013, 04:49

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pqhai

Rhea446

Hi,

Thanks for the explaination, but then according to what you told above, the below sentence should be wrong;

I sacrificed a lot of money to visit Europe

Since visit is a verb here. Please tell me if I am understanding it correctly or not

Rhea446

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25 May 2013, 04:53

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Archit143

I think the Preposition that goes along with sacrifice is for.
we say Sacrifice X for Y... and not Sacrifice X to Y

Hope that helps!!!

Consider kudos if my post helps!!!

Archit

Hi Archit,

Thanks for your reply. But I still have a confusion here. I agree it should be "Sacrifice X for Y" and not "Sacrifice X to Y",

but when we are dealing with an action associated as a result of a sacrifice which one is better to say:
" Sacrifice X to do Y" or "Sacrifice X for doing Y"

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25 May 2013, 05:04

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Nice discussion so far.
Please visit this link for further clarifications.
to-verb-vs-for-verb-ing-144017.html

pqhai

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25 May 2013, 11:04

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Rhea446

pqhai

Rhea446

Hi Rhea

Technically, GMAT prefers "to do X" to "for dong X", because VERB form is always more concise and clearer than NOUN form (Ving is gerund - noun form of action).
Note: "prefer" does not mean "always"

However, "sacrifice" is a special case. The correct idiom of sacrifice is:
"sacrifice someone/something TO/FOR someone/something"

So I would say "sacrifice X to do Y" is wrong idiom.

You can change your sentence like:
(1) I sacrificed a lot of money to a chance to visit Europe
(2) I sacrificed a lot of money for visiting Europe.

Hope it helps.

priyanshu14

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12 Jun 2019, 05:09

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First of all, between (1) and (2), the first sentence is correct. The second sentence is absolutely wrong.

IDIOM:

Sacrifice someone/something FOR someone/something
For example: I sacrifice a lot of money FOR a chance to go to US

Sacrifice someone/something TO someone/something
For example: I sacrifice a lot of money TO a better life

It doesn't matter if you use TO or FOR. Both of them are correct. But after preposition (TO/FOR), noun/noun phrase should be used, NOT VERB

Your second sentence: "Would you sacrifice a lot of money to go to Europe" is wrong because there should be noun/noun phrase after preposition TO, not verb.

Hope it helps.[/quote]

Hi,

Thanks for the explaination, but then according to what you told above, the below sentence should be wrong;

I sacrificed a lot of money to visit Europe

Since visit is a verb here. Please tell me if I am understanding it correctly or not[/quote]

Hi Rhea

Technically, GMAT prefers "to do X" to "for dong X", because VERB form is always more concise and clearer than NOUN form (Ving is gerund - noun form of action).
Note: "prefer" does not mean "always"

However, "sacrifice" is a special case. The correct idiom of sacrifice is:
"sacrifice someone/something TO/FOR someone/something"

So I would say "sacrifice X to do Y" is wrong idiom.

You can change your sentence like:
(1) I sacrificed a lot of money to a chance to visit Europe
(2) I sacrificed a lot of money for visiting Europe.

Hope it helps.[/quote]

Dear Sir,
Thanks for detailed explanation.
But I request clarification on below points:

A. Instead of (1) I sacrificed a lot of money to a chance to visit Europe, it should be:
I sacrificed a lot of money to a chance to visit Europe

B. "sacrifice to" can be used as below:
I sacrificed a lot of money to visit Europe

Both points are contradicting what you have explained. I am quoting these examples from "Aristotle SC Grail".

Thanks in advance
bb GMATNinja generis

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