"And" or "to"

[Rachel Adams]

Can I use "to" instead of "and" in my sentence and will it change the meaning?

"She decided to go abroad and study there."

 

[emsr2d2]

First, remove "there" - "abroad" isn't a place so "there" doesn't work. If you had named a specific country, "there" would have been possible but unnecessary.

You could use "to" or "and" before "study" with no discernible difference in meaning. I'm sure someone will tell you that using "to" means that studying is her sole/main purpose of going abroad, and that "and" means that she's going abroad and will also study while she's away. In natural everyday English, we wouldn't make that distinction.

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