ENGLISH
REFERENCE

respond to sth/sb

phr. v..
A2 Elementary Oxford

phr. v.. to say or do something as an answer to a person or a situation.

phr. v.. to reply to a communication or react to a stimulus; functions as an intransitive verb followed by a prepositional object.


SIMPLE

I need to respond to his email today.

CONTEXTUAL

The emergency services respond to thousands of calls every single day.

COMPLEX

The market failed to respond to the central bank's intervention, leading to further currency devaluation throughout the afternoon.

Particles
to
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
respond + to + object
Usage

always requires the preposition 'to' before the person or thing being answered.

Teaching tip

contrast with 'answer', which is a transitive verb and does not take 'to'; learners often confuse the two by saying 'respond him'.

Pitfall

Please respond me as soon as possible.Please respond to me as soon as possible.unlike the verb 'answer', 'respond' must be followed by the preposition 'to' before the object.

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