Partial To: Standard Pattern
Partial To: Standard Pattern records the directly documented construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Use “partial to” to express a liking; Cambridge also marks the collocation as old-fashioned or formal.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| express a liking or preference for a thing | partial to + noun | Use “partial to” before the thing liked. |
| express a liking for an activity | partial to + -ing | Use an -ing form when the liked thing is an activity. |
| “partial” means incomplete or not total | different construction | Do not apply the liking construction to the separate adjective sense. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Does “partial” mean that someone likes or has a preference for something?
If yes: Use “partial to” plus a noun or -ing form.
If no: If “partial” means incomplete or limited, use the construction required by that different sense.
Caveat: Cambridge marks the liking expression as old-fashioned or formal. That register note belongs to this “partial to” sense, not to every use of the adjective “partial.”
Examples
I am partial to dark chocolate.
The noun phrase names something the speaker likes.
She is partial to walking home after work.
An -ing form can name an activity someone likes.
The report provides only a partial account of the event.
The “incomplete” sense of “partial” does not use the liking construction.
Further guidance
Construction
Cambridge documents “partial to” before a noun phrase or an -ing form when someone has a liking for something or an activity.
Style Boundary
This page records the partial-to liking construction and its register note; it does not treat partial as requiring to in its other senses.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- partial to something/doing something — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Cambridge collocation evidence for partial to something or doing something when expressing a liking.