English usage and grammar

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"To me / For me" regarding personal opinions (self.english)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Crul to c/[email protected]

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Prepositions are hard, and these are the ones that confuse me the most:

It seems (...) [to / for] me
It looks like (...) [to / for] me
It feels (...) [to / for] me
It sounds like (...) [to / for] me
(...) makes more sense [to / for] me

Questions:

Are both valid?
- If both are valid; is there any nuance as to which to use?
- If they aren't: is there a general rule or is it a case-by-case (as it usually is with prepositions)?

Thanks!

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[–] asterisk 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

For me, "for me" is more subjective than "to me", suggesting there may be other equally valid points of view.

But I would never say "It seems for me", or the other items in your list except for "...makes more sense for me...".

[–] Crul 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What I'm getting is that using "to me" as the default is a safe option and the use of "for me" is more nuanced (... and I don't understand in which sense).

Thanks!

[–] asterisk 4 points 1 year ago

Yes, that seems about right to me.

I can't quite put my finger on the rule for when you can use "for me"; perhaps there isn't one.

I do think, however, that you can safely put "For me," at the beginning of the sentence instead of using "to me" later: "For me, it seems...", "For me, it looks like...", etc.