"To her" or "for her"

[Rachel Adams]

Should I use "to her" or "for her"?

"She doesn't consider herself to be a good artist, but art is everything to her. Her nude paintings are my favourite."

 

[GoesStation]

To is correct. Here's a more natural version of the text: "She doesn't consider herself a good artist, but art is everything to her. Her nudes are my favourites."

 

[Rachel Adams]

To is correct. Here's a more natural version of the text: "She doesn't consider herself a good artist, but art is everything to her. Her nudes are my favourites."

What I wrote is correct but not natural . I often have this problem. What's the difference between "to" and "for" in my sentence?

 

[Yankee]

"For" would be understood in that context, but as GS stated "to" is "more natural".

 

[emsr2d2]

What I wrote is correct but not natural . I often have this problem.

The simple reason you have this problem is that you're not a native speaker! You will have noticed that frequently we have trouble explaining why something is natural or not. It's a feeling; it's not something we can explain grammatically.

 

[Rachel Adams]

You are right. I read an article about the difference between "to" and "for". Maybe the difference I was reading about doesn't apply to this context. For example, "It's important to her to study well." And "It's important for her to study well."