It is a great place for asking questions.
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It is a great place to ask questions.
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Either are grammatical and mean the same thing.– WS2Jul 21, 2015 at 17:26
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1possible duplicate of How does one know when to use a gerund or an infinitive? I wanted to closevote against Clauses of purpose: “for + -ing” or “to-infinitive” because it's a more exact match, but that one was closed against the original, and because it has no upvotes or accepted answer I can't cite it in my closevote here. But it really is the same question.– FumbleFingersJul 21, 2015 at 17:35
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1 Answer
Either is correct. There is a hair-splitting distinction if we think of the phrase following place as a modifier:
- a place for asking questions implies that the place was intended to be a place for questions;
- a place to ask questions implies that it's a place you can ask questions even though it wasn't built for that purpose.
So a great university is a great place for asking questions, but my local pub is a great place to ask questions.
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I think that distinction isn't so much "hair-splitting" as "totally without foundation". Jul 21, 2015 at 17:40
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Google via Merriam-Webster defines "for" as "a function word to indicate purpose" and as such "a place for..." implies the intention of the place's creators. "To" meanwhile is merely an infinitive marker so that the infinitive does not connote anything about intention. Jul 21, 2015 at 17:44
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I understand that, and I'm sure there are other contexts where that distinction could apply. But OP's context is similar to Today is a good day for dying | Today is a good day to die, where it seems effectively irrelevant. Jul 21, 2015 at 17:58
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