Key to the door or key of the door? - WordReference Forums

When we say "the key to the door" we seem to imply that the key is to open or close the door. In this sense "the key for the door" would be a ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. Keytothedoororkeyofthedoor? Threadstarter gianteagle Startdate Jan15,2009 G gianteagle NewMember Shanghai,China Chinese "Doyouhavethekeytothedoor?"and"Doyouhavethekeyofthedoor?",whichoneiscorrect?   cycloneviv SeniorMember Perth,WesternAustralia English-Australia Higianteagle, Whatdoyouthinkofthetwooptions?   G gianteagle NewMember Shanghai,China Chinese Ithinkbothofthemaregrammaticallycorrect.However,someteachersfromChinesehighschoolsaidonlytheformerisacceptedbyexaminers.   soundshift SeniorMember Derby(centralEngland) English-England Ofthetwo,only"keytothedoor"soundscorrecttome.   G GeorgeFrench SeniorMember English-UK Asanasidefromanexaminationquestion"Doyouhavethedoorkey?"ismorenatural." GF..   R Rover_KE SeniorMember NorthwestEngland-nearBlackburn,Lancashire BritishEnglish WhereIcomefrom,onceyougainedyourmajority(reachedtheageof21inthosedays),youweresaidtobegiventhekeyofthedoor. Rover   M Meeracat SeniorMember Edinburgh,Scotland English soundshiftsaid: Ofthetwo,only"keytothedoor"soundscorrecttome. Clicktoexpand... Iseemtorememberanarchaicrefrainwhichwent: 'He'sgotthekeyofthedoor, Neverbeentwenty-onebefore.'   panjandrum LapsedModerator Belfast,Ireland English-Ireland(topend) AsRoversays,"thekeyofthedoor"isasetphraseinBE,atleast. Aroundthepanjresidencewesometimeshavetosearchforthe"keyforthebigdoor". Ithink"keytothedoor"soundsverystrange,butthatcouldbealocalpeculiarity.   G gianteagle NewMember Shanghai,China Chinese IwouldmostlyagreewithGorgeFrench,itismorenaturaltosay"Doyouhavethedoorkey?" Howaboutthefollowingquestion?"Youmusttakethekeys_______thedoorwithyouwhenyougoout."Options:A.to;B.of.ThestandardanswerisA.Ipreferchangingthissentenceto"Youmusttakethedoorkeyswithyouwhenyougoout."   Lastedited:Jan16,2009 losilmer SeniorMember SanJuan,PuertoRico Spanish Whenwesay"thekeytothedoor"weseemtoimplythatthekeyistoopenorclosethedoor.Inthissense"thekeyforthedoor"wouldbeasynonym.Thehabitofusing"to"hasprobablybeenthecausewhythoseteacherssaythatthisisthecorrectuse. Butthisisonlyatendency.   Brioche SeniorMember Adelaide AustraliaEnglish panjandrumsaid: AsRoversays,"thekeyofthedoor"isasetphraseinBE,atleast. Aroundthepanjresidencewesometimeshavetosearchforthe"keyforthebigdoor". Ithink"keytothedoor"soundsverystrange,butthatcouldbealocalpeculiarity. Clicktoexpand... OtherfolkintheUKuse"keytothedoor". AbbeyNationalBuildingSociety[nowabankcalledAbbey]publisheditsownhistoryinabookcalled:"Akeytothedoor:theAbbeyNationalstory". On27Oct1995,TheTimesHigherEducationSupplementrananarticle"Keytothedoorforgraduates". BritishauthorAlanSillitoewroteabook"Keytothedoor". AccordingtotheBBCthewordsare"21today,you'vegotthekeytothedoor,neverbeen21before'. Whenkeyisusedmetaphoricallyitisusually"keyto" Blackholesarethekeytotheevolutionoftheuniverse. ScienceandHealthwithKeytotheScripturesbyMaryBakerEddy Exercisemaynotbethekeytoweightloss.   Lastedited:Jan16,2009 G gianteagle NewMember Shanghai,China Chinese Briochesaid: Whenkeyisusedmetaphoricallyitisusually"keyto" Clicktoexpand... Reasonable.   G gianteagle NewMember Shanghai,China Chinese Thanksforthehelp.   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top