He beckoned to her...

[99bottles]

Lately, I have been trying to figure out the difference between motion and beckon as well as between the prepositions that follow them. I searched countless online dictionaries, but none of them seemed helpful. For example, in this sentence I made up, what would you put and why?

He beckoned/motioned to/for/(no preposition) her to stay still.

 

[jutfrank]

First of all, beckon is completely wrong because it means 'to call someone towards you'. Follow it with to.

Whether motion can be used to signal to someone to stay put is arguable, but I think it's fine. Also follow with to.

 

[99bottles]

Whether motion can be used to signal to someone to stay put is arguable, but I think it's fine. Also follow with to.

The thing is, in the meantime, I googled a similar sentence on Google Books, and nobody seems to follow it with to. They either use for or no preposition. How come?

motioned to her to stay still - Google Search

Edit: So is beckon used only to tell someone to come closer? Can you not beckon to someone to do something different from coming closer? What about this sentence I found on Collins?

Hughes beckoned him to sit down on a sofa.

 

[jutfrank]

The thing is, in the meantime, I googled a similar sentence on Google Books, and nobody seems to follow it with to. They either use for or no preposition. How come?

Stop googling it, then, and just take my advice on board.

Edit: So is beckon used only to tell someone to come closer?

Yes. It refers to the thing you do with your hand to tell someone 'Come here'.

Can you not beckon to someone to do something different from coming closer?

No.

What about this sentence I found on Collins?

Hughes beckoned him to sit down on a sofa.

Either ignore it, or try to understand it the sense I'm telling you.

 

[99bottles]

Stop googling it, then, and just believe me.



Yes. It refers to the thing you do with your hand to tell someone 'Come here'.



No.



Either ignore it, or try to understand it the sense I'm telling you.

So, if I want to wordlessly ask someone to do something other than coming closer, I use motion. If I want them to come closer, I can use either. I follow them both with to. Have I got everything right?

 

[jutfrank]

Use beckon to mean 'Say "Come here" with your hand'. Beckoning is the thing you do with your hand when you wag your fingers and pull your arm towards you. I'm sure you know what I mean because it's one of those universal hand gestures, understood intuitively by everyone, regardless of culture. You have to use to for the same reason you 'signal to someone' or 'wave to someone': the preposition to express the direction of communication. You might find some cases of it used as a transitive verb.

The verb motion is much more general. I understand it to cover pretty much any communicative gesture, but typically one done with the head or hand or arm. Also use to, for reasons I hope I've already explained.

 

[Yankee]

Lately, I have been trying to figure out the difference between motion and beckon as well as between the prepositions that follow them. I searched countless online dictionaries, but none of them seemed helpful. For example, in this sentence I made up, what would you put and why?

He beckoned/motioned to/for/(no preposition) her to stay still.

"He motioned for her to stay still." The motion could be with one or both hands extended and palms facing the person

 

[99bottles]

"He motioned for her to stay still." The motion could be with one or both hands extended and palms facing the person

So, after a lengthy discussion with an English-speaking person (Juttfrank), at the end of which we concluded I should use to, another English-speaking person (Yankee) appears, and he says I should use for. Don't you love this language?

 

[jutfrank]

Remember that different prepositions have different meanings. I told you to use to to express the direction of communication. Yankee's for has a different meaning, which here expresses the purpose of his motioning.

Don't blame the language for your lack of understanding it.

 

[Jemima23]

The thing is, in the meantime, I googled a similar sentence on Google Books, and nobody seems to follow it with to. They either use for or no preposition. How come?

motioned to her to stay still - Google Search

Edit: So is beckon used only to tell someone to come closer? Can you not beckon to someone to do something different from coming closer? What about this sentence I found on Collins?

Hughes beckoned him to sit down on a sofa.

Not a teacher.

My guess would be that this Hughes character was sitting on the sofa, so he beckoned someone to come closer and to sit next to him on the sofa.

 

[Tdol]

Remember that different prepositions have different meanings.

And that there are different variants of English.