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I have heard both of the expressions :

  1. This work is easy to me.

  2. This work is easy for me.

What are the different uses of to and for in this context?

Thanks in advance.

RubioRic
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Kumar sadhu
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2 Answers2

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The easy FOR me case is fine.

I don't know if easy TO me is technically incorrect or not. But I am a native speaker of American English, and I wouldn't say it that way--and I don't hear others say it either.

You can be easy on someone, but you wouldn't (properly) say you were easy to someone. What sounds correct would be:

This work seems easy to me.
This is easy work.

When you use IS XXX TO, the general pattern is that it should be active.

Her cat is mean to me.

Trying to use easy here suggests that the easiness itself is acting on you--where you are the object. It doesn't sound right.

HostileFork says dont trust SE
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This work is easy TO me.

Using To here indicates that that work is easy according to my view and opinion.

This work is easy FOR me.

While using For indicates that the work is easy based on my abilities and qualifications. So, I can do it since I find it easy to do.

Learning Equals Success
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    "Using To here indicates that that work is easy according to my view and opinion." I mention in my answer that my feeling as a native speaker is that to say this, you should say something like seems easy to me. It doesn't sound correct if you just say is easy to me; otherwise it sounds more like the easy is "acting" upon you. – HostileFork says dont trust SE Feb 15 '19 at 05:32
  • I can't exactly imagine the sentence with the meaning "acting upon you", but yes, you are right. Thanks for informing me of that. – Learning Equals Success Feb 15 '19 at 12:43