[Grammar] Regarding the preposition of and for

[Joe333]

Sentence: "He must pay the price of/for these crimes"


My question: Which preposition, of or for, would be 'appropriate' in the sentence ? My own sense is both are correct but I'm confused with the difference they(prepositions) are creating. So there are two things I'd like to know from the members. First is whether both the prepositions are correct or not ? And secondly what difference there use will make.


Thanks

 

[bhaisahab]

Sentence: "He must pay the price of/for these crimes"


My question: Which preposition, of or for, would be 'appropriate' in the sentence ? My own sense is both are correct but I'm confused with the difference they(prepositions) are creating. So there are two things I'd like to know from the members. First is whether both the prepositions are correct or not ? And secondly what difference there use will make.


Thanks

"He must pay the price of these crimes" suggests that there is a set monetary price to pay. Usually we say: "...pay the price for the crimes", here "price" is figurative, it doesn't necessarily mean money.

 

[Joe333]

"He must pay the price of these crimes" suggests that there is a set monetary price to pay. Usually we say: "...pay the price for the crimes", here "price" is figurative, it doesn't necessarily mean money.

Oh! so that is the difference. Thanks, thanks a lot. Got it. Hope these things won't confuse me in the future.

 

[Joe333]

"He must pay the price of these crimes" suggests that there is a set monetary price to pay. Usually we say: "...pay the price for the crimes", here "price" is figurative, it doesn't necessarily mean money.

I have come to know from other English forum that the preposition of is also possible in the same 'type' of context! Wonder how I missed on that. It has been creating confusion again in my mind. I would like you to see that question/angle and explain the reasons behind it. Here are two links, one is of the Google where people, seemingly knowing good English, have used the preposition "of" 'liberally' and the other link is of another forum. Links: http://budurl.com/5jas , http://budurl.com/5ujg .

 

[bhaisahab]

I have come to know from other English forum that the preposition of is also possible in the same 'type' of context! Wonder how I missed on that. It has been creating confusion again in my mind. I would like you to see that question/angle and explain the reasons behind it. Here are two links, one is of the Google where people, seemingly knowing good English, have used the preposition "of" 'liberally' and the other link is of another forum. Links: http://budurl.com/5jas , http://budurl.com/5ujg .

It seems that most of the respondants on that other forum agree with me, that "for" is the correct preposition in the context of your sentence.
I don't set any store at all by results on google about language questions.

 

[Joe333]

It seems that most of the respondants on that other forum agree with me, that "for" is the correct preposition in the context of your sentence.
I don't set any store at all by results on google about language questions.

No, no sir I and the other forum members are not disagreeing with you regarding the usage of for, absolutely not. In fact we all feel usage of for is correct in that sentence.

Actually I was asking a different question but perhaps you didn't get it because of my poor articulation skills.[] Let me explain it again. I was trying to know how one can ascertain the correct preposition in the context and sentence like these: "He must pay the price of/for success".

As said by the one member in the other forum that the preposition "of" is also possible in such "types" of sentences/contexts. Sir I would request you to go through the posts of Mr. Wordy in the other forum if you have time. He also have the same problem.

Take another sentence now, which I'm going to use in my essay, as an example "pay the price of/for global warming". If you Google this example you will find that both the prepositions, for and if, have been used in the example by different writers and websites. Here are the links of these websites and writers http://budurl.com/qmcg , http://budurl.com/8gmn , http://budurl.com/cjgp , http://budurl.com/kbqn .

Sir, that's the problem. Now which preposition should I choose for this sentence ? I feel both are correct!

Actually I don't know "how" to ascertain which preposition is correct in such types of sentences/contexts. That all. I just wanted to know the 'method' of choosing the preposition in these type of sentences/context. Was in no way questioning the correctness of your reply, sir

Thanks

PS: I don't have Internet for 2 days that is why I'm replying belatedly. And sorry for the long post if anybody feel the inconvenience because of it ;-)