[Idiom] Is it "offer sth. to sb." or "offer sb. sth"

[Patrick87]

Hi,

I am new here ;-)

I am writing an essay, but I am not sure which of the following two versions are better with respect to grammar and style. The essay should be written in academic English.

A. Physical education classes offer a great deal of advantages to the students.
B. Physical education classes offer the students a great deal of advantages.

I could also write: Physical education classes provide a great deal of advantages for their students. I think it should be for with the verb provide.

However, I am not sure which of the two versions above are correct. I checked it in a dictionary, but I only found an example similar to sentence B. I was wondering if sentence A would be incorret.

Best regards,
Patrick

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi,

I am new here ;-)

I am writing an essay, but I am not sure which of the following two versions are better with respect to grammar and style. The essay should be written in academic English.

A. Physical education classes offer a great deal of advantages to the students.
B. Physical education classes offer the students a great deal of advantages.

I could also write: Physical education classes provide a great deal of advantages for their students. I think it should be for with the verb provide.

However, I am not sure which of the two versions above are correct. I checked it in a dictionary, but I only found an example similar to sentence B. I was wondering if sentence A would be incorret.

Best regards,
Patrick

I think both structures are fine, but I would change "a great deal of" to "many". We usually only use "a great deal of" with uncountable nouns:

There is a great deal of water on the floor.
He made a great deal of money for the company.
There was a great deal of sand in my shoes.

I would also stick with "offer" instead of "provide".

 

[Patrick87]

Thanks very much. I will write numerous advantages instead of a great deal of advantages.