for going to a public school

[navi tasan]

Can one use:
1-He is good at French for going to a public school.
if the intended meaning is
2-He is good at French for someone who has gone to a public school.

In general, could one use "for + gerund" instead of "for someone who" (given that fact that.
I guess this could be another example:

3-He speaks English well for growing up in a non-English speaking country.
(Meaning: He speaks English well for a non-native speaker.)

I do not think 1 and 3 work. In those sentences 'for' seems to give the reason for something.

Gratefully,
Navi.

 

[5jj]

The first and third do not work. 'For' in this sense needs to be followed by a noun/pronoun, as in your second sentence.

Incidentally, your sentence would sound very odd in BrE. In Br E, public schools are very expensive private schools.

 

[Roman55]

In Br E, public schools are very expensive private schools.

I am not a teacher.

Exactly.

My immediate thought on seeing 1. (before reading further) was to replace "for going to" with "because he went to".

 

[BobK]

Mine too. ;-)

You could use 'for' but not with that syntax: 'He speaks French well for someone who went to a state school'.

b