Can you say: Please substitute the cheese for tomato sauce. VS Please substitute c

[B45]

so am I!

 

[Polyester]

Please substitute cheese with tomato sauce = Please don't give me cheese but please give me tomato sauce
Please substitute cheese for tomato sauce = Please don't give me tomato sauce but please give me cheese

With in your first sentence, why the seller sold you tomato sauce without cheese?
In my own, with is getting two things together, wants two things.
Can you explain me why?

 

[B45]

I just want one and not the other.

 

[emsr2d2]

With in your first sentence, why the seller sold you tomato sauce without cheese?
In my own, with is getting two things together, wants two things.
Can you explain me why?

Take a pizza menu, for example. I have a friend who is vegan so he doesn't eat cheese. Normally a pizza has a base of tomato and is topped with cheese, with various things in between. My vegan friend would say something like "Please substitute cheese with mushrooms" - he wants the pizza maker to swap the two over. He wants his pizza to have mushrooms on top instead of the standard cheese.

 

[bhaisahab]

I think it's likely that most native speakers would say "I'd like X instead of Y, please" or "Could I have X instead of Y, please?". I don't think many would use the word "substitute".

 

[MikeNewYork]

I agree. I think it is clear from this thread that word "substitute" can be ambiguous.

 

[Tarheel]

I agree. I think it is clear from this thread that word "substitute" can be ambiguous.

And it is probably used more often as a noun than as a verb. ("J.P. Tokono is going in as a substitute for Marcus Paige.")