About a week ago, we shared some commonly used expressions on our social media platforms with a view to providing insights as to what the Standard English expressions are. Of all the expressions corrected, one did not quite sit well with most of the persons we engaged with. The question was: Which is the correct expression ‘clap for him’ or ‘clap him’?
Many rejected the expression ‘clap him’ because they felt it did not sound right. For others, it was simply the fact that they had not heard it before. We, therefore, decided to do some additional research to provide what we believe to be a proper explanation of the subject matter.
A visit to the dictionary would reveal that the word ‘clap’ is both a noun and a verb depending on usage. When used as a verb it means ‘to hit the palms of your hands together usually more than once’. When used as a noun it means ‘the sound of clapping hands; especially: applause’ (merriamwebster.com)
In the sentence ‘clap for him’ what meaning does the word clap have? Is it used as a noun or as a verb? You would agree that the intention is to use the word as a verb.
Should the preposition ‘for’ accompany the verb in the above sentence? The word ‘for’ is a preposition. Prepositions can be tricky to use as often people include prepositions unnecessarily in sentences. The rule for prepositions usually is: if the sentence makes complete sense without the preposition, leave it out.
Will this sentence make sense without the preposition ‘for’? Let us run the sentence through what we will refer to as the ‘for’ test. The word for is used to indicate ‘on behalf of’ when used with certain verbs. Let us look at some sentence examples:
When your friend comes first in class, what do you do?
Praise for her X
Praise her? √
2. What do you do when your classmate gets a question right?
We applaud for him. X
We applaud him. √
3. What do you say when your friend does you a favour?
Thank for you. X
Thank you. √
4. What do you say about your friend who should be given respect?
I respect for him. X
I respect him. √
5. What do you do when your friend gives a correct answer to a question?
Clap for her. X
Clap her. √
6. What do you do when your brother is so sick and cannot talk?
Pray for him. √
Pray him. X
7. What do you do when you see Dad and mum in the morning?
Greet for them. X
Greet them. √
8. What do you do when your sister is so sick and cannot speak?
Speak for her. √
Speak her. X
9. What do you do when your friend deserves to be congratulated?
Congratulate for him. X
Congratulate him. √
10. What do you do when your friend is not able to write?
Write for him. √
Write him. X
In other words, ‘verb + for’ indicates doing something on behalf of someone. In the sentence ‘clap for him’ do you mean you are clapping on behalf of your friend?
You may also want to check out the following online dictionary sentence entries for ‘clap’ not in one single instance is the expression ‘clap for’ used when ‘clap’ is a verb or even when it is a noun.
Clap somebody/something: Every one clapped us when we went up to get our prize. http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/clap_1…
2. The girl is instantly recognised, even in the gloom, and people clap and greet her.
GLASGOW HERALD (2001) http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/clap
3. To applaud (a performance, speech…) by clapping the hands: The audience clapped the actors at the end of the act. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clap
So, now that you know, go ahead and use the expression. If anyone has done something you approve of go ahead and clap them.
I feel clap for him is also correct though,depends on the context it's being used
ReplyDeleteDo you say " put your hands together him? " ,since clap means put your hands togethee repeatedly... I dont think there is anything wrong with saying " clap for." when you mean aplaude...
ReplyDeleteIs "for" only meant to mean on behalf of? What if we look at it in the view of "reason"? Not that we replace "for" with "reason" but more of "clapping because someone has done something right".
ReplyDeleteStop using many examples to justify an error. Clapping can never be on behalf of someone because it is not his hands you are clapping. You are "clapping for him" as a reward. If you were to reward them by asking the class to sing, would you then say "sing him" or "sing for him"?
ReplyDeleteThanks sir.
ReplyDeleteDo you mean "clap him" is more correct than "clap for him" you substantiated this with a series of question you provided above.What if the question is not being asked from me, and what will I do?
When you say clap him, you know it can mean I should put in him a container or inconvenient place forcibly.so, this can mean another thing to readers. We can't clap on behalf of someone we can only clap to praise someone of his good or excellent performance.
So, I think it would be better if we can make more research about this.