"to" or "for"?

Sentence Structure with two objects:

• In simple sentences the object is easy to see:

She hit him.
They took the money.

• Some verbs, however, have two objects:

She gave me the book. ( = she gave the book to me)

The book is the real object of this sentence. It tells us what she gave.
"Book" is the direct object (D.O.)
"ME" is the indirect object (l.O.)

FORM 1. VERB + DIRECT OBJECT + TO OR FOR + INDIRECT OBJECT.

Give the money to him

FORM 2. VERB + INDIRECT OBJECT WITHOUT TO OR FOR + DIRECT

OBJECT.
Give him the money

Note: that it is not possible to use the second form when the direct object is a pronoun
(me, her, him, it, etc]. The longer construction must be used:
Give it to John. (NOT Give John it.)

Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object.

James gave Michael a Cd. - Emma gave Rachel a book

James = Subject
Gave = Verb
Michael = Indirect Object
A Cd = Direct Object
Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Phrase with to/for

James gave a Cd to Michael. - We bought ice-creams for all the children

James = Subject
Gave = Verb
A Cd = Direct Object
to Michael = Phrase with to/for (Indirect Object)

TO OR FOR

To = We give something to someone

Bring, give, hand, lend, offer, owe, pass, pay, post, promise, read, sell, send, show, take,
teach, tell, throw, write.

For = We buy something for someone

Book, bring, build, buy, choose, cook, fetch, find, get, leave, order, pick, reserve, save.

_________________________ ______________ ___________________

Tell and Say:

"Tell" has a personal direct object

She told me she was going to be late.
"It's too late" She told me.

"Say" never has a personal direct object

She said she was going to be late.

With "say" the indirect object is used instead. (To me, to her, to us, etc)
"I don´t like them very much" She said to me quietly

______________________________ _____________ ________________________ _

Other Uses. "For"

FOR can be used to talk about somebody's purpose in doing something, but only when
it is followed by a noun.
We stopped at the pub for a drink.
I went to the college for an interview with Professor Taylor.
(A drink, an interview are nouns)

You cannot use for before a verb in this sense. The infinitive alone is used to express a
person's purpose.
We stopped at the pub to have a drink
I went to the college to see Professor Taylor

You can use for before "ing" to express the "purpose" of a thing (what it is used for)
especially when the thing is the subject of the clause.

Subject = that Cake, An Altimeter, etc.

Is that cake for eating or just for looking at?
An altimeter is used for measuring height above sea level.

But when the clause has a person as subject, it is more common to use an infinitive to
express the purpose of a thing.

Subject = We, James, She, etc.

We use altimeters to measure height above sea level.