OG12 72 means 的用法

faring56

More and more in recent years, cities are stressing
the arts as a means to greater economic development
and investing millions of dollars in cultural activities,
despite strained municipal budgets and fading federal
support.
(A) to greater economic development and investing
(B) to greater development economically and
investing
(C) of greater economic development and invest
(D) of greater development economically and invest
(E) for greater economic development and the
investment of

请问 as a means of, as a means for, as a means to 用法的区别

movingever

could you please post the OG explanation?

henryest

我Google和金山词霸的时候 发现as a means of = as a means to 没有as a means for。 但是貌似OG说 as a means of 不对
不晓得为什么。

ozymen

when I googled those three phrases, I found that "as a means of" is the most used, "as a means to" is the second and "as a means for" is much less used.

I think OG gave a clear expanation on the differences between "as a means to" and "as a means of".  There are subtal differences in the meaning of "to" and "of".

preposition "to" suggests the meaning of "leading to the results of".  "of" suggests possession relationship of the preceding noun and the succeding noun.

monkeyjjl

我觉得OG的解释还挺有问题
as a means+ to/of/for 都是可以的吧
只是不同的介词表达的意思有点细小的差别

scarlett006

Means' is used in two idiomatically correct expressions as noted below. These expressions however have different meanings:

x {as a means of} y = x is a type of y
x {as a means to} y = x is a method to achieve y

For example:
Walking is a means of exercise.
Some people use walking as a means to stay fit.

We will now put this in the context of the sentence in question:

City is stressing arts as a means to greater economic development
The usage of expression as a means to is appropriate here since "arts" is a method to achieve "greater economic development.

Thus, whenever you have to make the decision between using "as a means to" or "as a means of" always check which of the two meanings will make sense:
"a type of" or "a method to achieve"

I hope this helps.

from  e-Gmat