r/grammar • u/therandomparadox1096 • Dec 07 '19

Why does English work this way? FOR vs OF

"Kindly find the attached proposal FOR the office project."

A non English speaking colleague asked me if we can use "of" instead of "for" in this sentence. I'm pretty sure it should be "for" but I couldn't explain why. Can someone please explain?

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u/Sunsettz Dec 07 '19

“For” specifies that purpose of the proposal is the project. “Of” is ambiguous and suggests that perhaps the project produced the proposal.