He cooked dinner for his family.

Meaning: This sentence describes an event where someone prepares the evening meal for their family members.

Choice of Words: Cooked means to prepare food by heating it. Dinner is the main meal of the day, eaten in the evening. Family is a group of people related to each other. When you put them together, it means you prepared food by heating it for a group of people related to you in the evening.

Alternative Expressions

The chef cooked a delicious meal for the guests.

Meaning: This means that a professional cook prepared a very tasty set of food for the people who were invited to a social event.

Choice of Words: The is a definite article that refers to a specific noun. Chef is a noun that refers to a person who cooks professionally. Cooked is a verb that means to prepare food by heating it. A is an indefinite article that refers to one of a kind. Delicious is an adjective that means very tasty. Meal is a noun that refers to a set of food prepared and eaten together. For is a preposition that indicates the purpose or reason for something. The is a definite article that refers to a specific noun. Guests is a noun that refers to people who are invited to a social event.

My mom baked a cake for my birthday.

Meaning: This means that my female parent cooked a sweet food made with flour, sugar, and eggs in an oven for the day on which I was born.

Choice of Words: My is a possessive pronoun that shows that something belongs to me. Mom is a noun that refers to my female parent. Baked is a verb that means to cook food in an oven. A is an indefinite article that refers to one of a kind. Cake is a noun that refers to a sweet food made with flour, sugar, and eggs. For is a preposition that indicates the purpose or reason for something. My is a possessive pronoun that shows that something belongs to me. Birthday is a noun that refers to the day on which a person was born.

Related Expressions