Job Discussion Forums

[MikeySaid]

Had a teacher today tell me that you can't say, "it is important to him"...

his argument is that when following "it is" grammar indicates that you say "it is important for him"...

when talking about learning English... you can say "It is important to him to learn English." .... can't you?

The way I understand it... important for and important to are different. But he cited something out of a Interactions text book and seemed pretty convinced.

[johnslat]

Dear MikeySaid,
Yikes - was that teacher mistaken. When "It is important TO him . ." is said, then the preposition indicates that the "importance" of learning English is something that the individual in question is concerned about.
When "It is important FOR him . . ." is said, then it is the speaker (and perhaps others) who feel that the individual's learning English is important. The individual him/herself may not care at all.
Regards,
John

[zorro (3)]

In your example sentence, 'it' is a dummy subject.

'It is important to him to learn English'

'It' means nothing here - it's just filling the obligatory subject position.

I did a corpus search and found that in the pattern 'it+is+important+to', the following word was always a verb. Apart from the below quote, but in this one 'it' is not a dummy subject because it refers to the NFL rushing title.

'to win the NFL rushing title, admits: `It is important to me. But I didn't start the season with'

I understand John Slat's position on this though, but I have a feeling that John's examples are also not using a dummy subject.

'Learning English is important to him' is perfectly acceptable, and this is where John's ideas make sense.

With 'important for' and a dumm subject, on the other hand, pronouns are definitely allowed.
It's important for him to...
It's important for them to...

I would suggest, then, that when using 'it' as a dummy subject, it's not natural to use 'to+pronoun', and that 'for+pronoun' is correct.

clear as mud???

[johnslat]

Dear zorro (3),

"I understand John Slat's position on this though, but I have a feeling that John's examples are also not using a dummy subject."

I'm puzzled. Why would you feel that?

[zorro (3)]

Just a hunch.

Try finishing off the sentence and we'll see.... or adding some context.

[johnslat]

Dear zorro (3)

"Try finishing off the sentence and we'll see.... or adding some context."

Do you mean like this?

You asked me why it is important for your son to learn English even though he doesn't want to. It's important for him to learn English because that will help him get a better job.

Regards,
John

[MikeySaid]

I explained the same thing to him... but he seemed sure. If it comes up again I'm just not saying anything. He can be wrong.

[johnslat]

As a teacher, you have, almost certainly, encountered students who refuse to admit they are wrong, who refuse to learn.
That's probably what inspired the old adage: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
Your plan not to say anything more is, I'd say, the wisest choice.
Regards,
John

[gaijinalways]

I agree with John's explanation, both are correct with the difference in meaning that he showed (one with it being imporant for the person discussed, the other for the speaker).

Don't worry about winning grammatical discussions, though you do have to be a bit concerned if later you teach his students. the 'unlearning' process can be tiring.

[Glenski]

Important to..........whom? You can always tack on the reason later using "because"

Important for.........what reason? or what further explanation can be given? This can include pointing out who is involved, but the grammar structure is different.


Winning the game is important to Jack. Why? He bet money on it. His grandmother is watching him play. Is it his son's/daughter's first game as picther.

Winning the game is important for many reasons. (no subject person used)

Learning how to throw a good curve ball is important for Jack because he knows only one other type of pitch.

It is important for Jack to learn how to throw more than one type of pitch.

[wildchild]

[Chancellor]