to

 
Pronunciation: /tə; before a vowel , tʊ; stressed , tuː/

preposition

  • 1expressing motion in the direction of (a particular location): walking down to the shops my first visit to Africa
  • expressing location, typically in relation to a specified point of reference: forty miles to the south of the site place the cursor to the left of the first word
  • expressing a point reached at the end of a range or after a period of time: a drop in profits from £105 m to around £75 m from 1938 to 1945
  • chiefly British (in telling the time) before (the hour specified): it’s five to ten
  • 2approaching or reaching (a particular condition): Christopher’s expression changed from amazement to joy she was close to tears
  • expressing the result of a process or action: smashed to smithereens
  • governing a phrase expressing someone’s reaction to something: to her astonishment, he smiled
  • 3identifying the person or thing affected by or receiving something: you were terribly unkind to her they donated £400 to the hospice
  • 4identifying a particular relationship between one person and another: he is married to his cousin Emma he’s economic adviser to the president
  • used in various phrases to indicate how something is related to something else (often followed by a noun without a determiner): made to order a prelude to disaster
  • indicating a rate of return on something, for example the distance travelled in exchange for fuel used: my car only does ten miles to the gallon
  • (to the) Mathematics indicating the power (exponent) to which a number is raised: ten to the minus thirty-three
  • 5indicating that two things are attached or linked: he had left his dog tied to a drainpipe they are inextricably linked to this island
  • 6concerning or likely to concern (something): a threat to world peace a reference to Psalm 22:18
  • 7used to introduce the second element in a comparison: the club’s nothing to what it once was
  • 8placed before a debit entry in accounting.

infinitiveMarker

  • 1used with the base form of a verb to indicate that the verb is in the infinitive, in particular:
  • expressing purpose or intention: I set out to buy food I am going to tell you a story
  • expressing an outcome or result: she was left to die I managed to escape
  • expressing a cause: I’m sorry to hear that
  • indicating a desired or advisable action: I’d love to go to France this summer the leaflet explains how to start a course
  • indicating a proposition that is known, believed, or reported about a specified person or thing: a house that people believed to be haunted
  • (about to) forming a future tense with reference to the immediate future: he was about to sing
  • after a noun, indicating its function or purpose: a chair to sit on something to eat
  • after a phrase containing an ordinal number: the first person to arrive
  • 2used without a verb following when the missing verb is clearly understood: he asked her to come but she said she didn’t want to

adverb

  • so as to be closed or nearly closed: he pulled the door to behind him

Origin:

Old English tō (adverb and preposition), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch toe and German zu

Do not confuse to with too or two. To usually means 'in the direction of' ( the next train to London); too means 'excessively' ( you’re driving too fast); two is the number between one and three.