L
lishanran
Member
Chinese
- May 21, 2015
- #1
Hi everyone, I am quite often confused by how to use the word "critical" correctly. Sometimes I come across a sentence with "critical to do", but it is "critical to doing" in other cases. In the below sentence, should it be "critical to evaluate" or "critical to evaluating" or "critical for evaluating"? "Quantifying the areal extent of water surface is critical to evaluate CO2 evasion at the spatial scale." This sentence is extracted from an academic paper. Many thanks for any help.
AmaryllisBunny
Senior Member
United States
English (AmE)
- May 21, 2015
- #2
It should be critical
to evaluateor critical
for evaluating.
to + infinitive
for + gerund
L
lishanran
Member
Chinese
- May 21, 2015
- #3
AmaryllisBunny said:
It should be critical
to evaluateor critical
for evaluating.
to + infinitive
for + gerund
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Many thanks. Is there any preference to use in this sentence? in particular for academic writing.
Lotus0727
Member
Tennessee, US
English - US
- May 21, 2015
- #4
Amaryllis is right, but I believe there's a slight difference in usage that I'm having trouble articulating exactly.
X is critical for Y. => Proper grammar is critical for good translators.
When doing Y, it is critical to X. When translating, it is critical to double-check your grammar.
Here, because of the wording of the rest of the sentence, I would prefer "critical for evaluating."
If you used "critical to" the sentence doesn't make sense to me unless you say, "When evaluating CO2 evasion at the spatial scale, it is critical to quantify the areal extent of the water surface."
L
lishanran
Member
Chinese
- May 21, 2015
- #5
Lotus0727 said:
Amaryllis is right, but I believe there's a slight difference in usage that I'm having trouble articulating exactly.
X is critical for Y. => Proper grammar is critical for good translators.
When doing Y, it is critical to X. When translating, it is critical to double-check your grammar.Here, because of the wording of the rest of the sentence, I would prefer "critical for evaluating."
If you used "critical to" the sentence doesn't make sense to me unless you say, "When evaluating CO2 evasion at the spatial scale, it is critical to quantify the areal extent of the water surface."
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Many thanks for your great help. That is what really confused me when selecting "critical to do" or "critical for doing" in essays. Now I get the differences and know how to use it properly in future. Thanks again.
AmaryllisBunny
Senior Member
United States
English (AmE)
- May 21, 2015
- #6
Given "Quantifying the areal extent of water surface is critical to evaluate CO2 evasion at the spatial scale."
...of water surface is critical
CO2
... of water surface is critical
CO2
to and for both refer to "evaluating CO2" as the result or objective at hand. One is more verbal, and one is more nominal, but to me, "who cares."
I disagree that there is much of a difference in meaning to the point Lotus points out.
L
lishanran
Member
Chinese
- May 21, 2015
- #7
AmaryllisBunny said:
Given "Quantifying the areal extent of water surface is critical to evaluate CO2 evasion at the spatial scale."
to evaluate
...of water surface is criticalCO2
for evaluating
... of water surface is criticalCO2
to and for both refer to "evaluating CO2" as the result or objective at hand. One is more verbal, and one is more nominal, but to me, "who cares."
I disagree that there is much of a difference in meaning to the point Lotus points out.
Thanks for your clarification.
O
oac0014
New Member
Romanian
- Feb 20, 2018
- #8
How about in the case of critical to/for + noun, as in "I don't think I'm particularly critical to/for the call" (when discussing arrangements for a conference call, for example)?
Do you feel like there is any (significant) difference in meaning between the two prepositions?
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