Learn English – Someone reads to me vs someone reads for me

meaningprepositions

what is the difference in the meaning between the following two sentences:

Someone reads to me.

Someone reads for me.

I think first sentence means someone reads something aloud for me or someone reads something so that I listen to him/ someone reads something and the destination of listening to him is me, And the second sentence means someone reads something for my sake. Am I on the right track ?

Best Answer

I’d say you’re on the right track. The first phrase – reads to me – is very common for read-aloud situations.

Every day in fourth grade, our teacher read to us.

The second wording – reads for me – is less idiomatic and subject to interpretation. I’d interpret it to mean reading something so that you don’t have to. It’s an uncommon situation, but I can think of a few places one might say that. For example:

I couldn’t understand all that legalese in the contract, so I had my lawyer read it for me.

The presumption would be that the lawyer would discuss any parts of the contract that might prevent me from signing it.

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