What's the difference between “there are two parts of it” and “there are two parts to it”?
My student asked me this question and I'm not quite sure what the correct answer is. Any advice would be hugely appreciated.
Learn English – “Two parts to it” versus “two parts of it”
collocationprepositions
Related Topic
- Learn English – “Excel at something” vs. “excel in something”
- Learn English – Teach in / teach on; class in / class on
- Word Choice – ‘Complemented With’ or ‘Complemented By’?
- Prepositions – ‘On the Campus’ vs. ‘At the Campus’ Usage
- Learn English – “increase of” vs. “increase in” in connection with abstract quantities
Best Answer
You're actually dealing with two different meanings of "there". Existential there and locative there.
See "There's a bear here"- is there a better way to say it?
In "There are two parts to it." the sense is existential. It means "the state of things". So the meaning of the sentence is "The state of things is that it has two parts in total."
In "There are two parts of it." the sense is locative. It means "that place not near me" and the sentence means "Two parts of it, of which there may be more, are in that place not near me."