FOR vs OF

[Unregistered]

Hi everybody, I would like to seek help with the usage of FOR and OF. It seems like they could be interchanged sometimes, which really confuses me. For example, is it correct to say "What is the history for drug use?" or "What is the history of drug use?" Are they equivalent?

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[David L.]

"What is the history of drug use?" is correct. the other is not.
It is alway, "history of": drug use, History of Ancient Rome, a history of violent behaviour, a history of poor work attendance.

We might say, "What are the indications for drug use?" when we are looking at things such as lack of employment, suspicious needle marks on the arm, undernourished appearance etc, to determine if a person is a drug-user.

We would say, "What are the indications for surgery?" when we were looking for reasons that we should operate on a patient now, rather than wait and observe.