enter for?
I've encountered two sentences below in a very old English textbook:
"Nearly everybody enters for ‘The Nicest Garden Competition’ each year, but Joe wins every time."
"Every year I enter for the garden competition too, and I always win a little prize for the worst garden in the town! "

However, the comtemporary dictionary says 'enter' does not need to be followed by 'for' to mean 'take part in', so are these sentences even correct nowadays?
But if the preposition 'for' is crossed out, would the sentences be misunderstood as ‘enter the next round of the competition'?

Question

enter for?
I've encountered two sentences below in a very old English textbook: 
"Nearly everybody enters for ‘The Nicest Garden Competition’ each year, but Joe wins every time."
"Every year I enter for the garden competition too, and I always win a little prize for the worst garden in the town! "

However, the comtemporary dictionary says 'enter' does not need to be followed by 'for' to mean 'take part in', so are these sentences even correct nowadays?
But if the preposition 'for' is crossed out, would the sentences be misunderstood as ‘enter the next round of the competition'?

Answer

Enter for a competition and enter a competition are both fine and mean the same.
To enter a competition - doesn't mean to enter into the next round. You would still need to mention the next round also.

I agree with the dictionary you mention though. It's more common to simply use 'enter a competition', however, 'enter for a competition' is not so old -> people still use it so you can too ;)

Answer

Do not use the word, "for". It will be understood.

Answers · 3

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