Saturday, April 8, 2017

prepositions - "A deep bronzing effect to her skin"


Why is the preposition to used here in this sentence? Does it go with effect or skin? I thought it's more common to say "effect on something" and "on the skin."



The controversial image, taken by star photographer Steven Klien, shows Hadid with such a deep bronzing effect to her skin that many took it to be a racist overture.




Answer



You asked a similar question the other day. to can express an attribute relationship. The object of preposition to is that which has the attribute.



There is a trick to it.


There was a pleasant lilt to her voice.



There's a limit to what he will put up with.



Now, bronzing effect is semantically not well suited to being cast as an attribute, but we can understand it here to be a synonym for bronze tone or bronze color.


There was such a deep bronze tone to her skin—the result of photographic filters—that many took the effect to be a racist overture.


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