What did that bully do with/to you?

azz

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2004
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
French
Home Country
France
Current Location
United States
Can one use (a) instead of (b)?
a. What did that bully do with you?
b. What did that bully do to you?

Can one use (c) instead of (d)?
c. He did a lot of bad things with that poor animal.
d. He did a lot of bad things to that poor animal.

Can one use (e) instead of (f)?
e. There was a lot of things he did with that animal.
f. There was a lot of things he did to that animal.

Many thanks
 
I don't think so. When you mistreat a person or animal, you do something bad to them.
 
I would stick with using "to".

There are contexts in which "with" would also work but as a native BrE speaker I would read it as implying sexual activity.
 
No. No. No.

I'm assuming that you're trying to use the pattern 'do something to somebody'.
 
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