In a question I had to select the correct sentence from among the 4 options. Though I could eliminate two options but got stuck in two other options. They were as follows
It is the duty of a housewife to wait on the guest.
It is the duty of a housewife to wait for the guest.
because I think both of them are correct.
But I have to choose only one, an I am unable to
They are both grammatical, but they normally mean completely different things:
to wait on somebody
This means to serve somebody and attend to their needs.
The serving staff at the restaurant had all been trained on the proper way to wait on their hungry customers and get them whatever they wanted.
to wait for somebody
This means to be available and present when somebody arrives.
They all had other things to do, but they put them on hold while they were waiting for the dignitary to arrive. None of them wanted to be absent during the grand entrance.
One thing can happen after another. After waiting for someone, once they've arrived, you can then wait on them.
Note that some people use wait on in the above sense of wait for; however, the reverse is not the case.
