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When can you leave the word "for" out of a sentence?
Examples:
I have searched for an answer to this question, but Bing, Google and Duckduckgo don't recognize for as a search term but as a filler word.
It is better to search in reference works than only in Google, Bing and other search sites. To regard "for" merely as a filler is incomplete and misleading. The following material is extracted from the Cambridge discussion of for as a preposition. It also acts as a conjunction.
In the following examples, only where I indicate {for} may it be removed with no corruption of meaning. This accords with a comment from tchrist, which deals with measures of time; it also applies to measures of distance, as in the Cambridge example.
intended to be given to
There's a phone message for you
having the purpose of
the books are not for sale
because of or as a result of something
She did 15 years in prison for murder
used to show an amount of time or distance
We walked {for} miles
She's out of the office {for} a few days next week
on the occasion of or at the time of
What did you buy him for Christmas?
used for comparing one thing with others of the same type
For every two people in favour of the law there are three against
used to say whose responsibility something is
the driver of the other car was not responsible for her son's death
in support of or in agreement with
I've got nothing against change - I'm all for it
in order to help someone
Let me carry those bags for you
