There are three elements to/of the program.

[EdisonBhola]

To recast "The program has three elements" into a sentence beginning with "there are", should I say "There are three elements of the program" or "There are three elements to the program". I am leaning towards the "to" version, but it's really very very difficult to explain why. What do you think?

 

[owlman5]

I'd also lean toward the "to" version if you want to phrase the sentence as you have, Edison. If you don't need "there are" at the beginning of the sentence, you can always simplify it: The program has three elements.

 

[EdisonBhola]

I don't know if I am correct, but I think we use "of" if we have to somehow categorize what the elements are, e.g.:

There are three elements of the program that you need to pay attention to.

In the above example, "to" sounds wrong to me.

 

[owlman5]

There are three elements of the program that you need to pay attention to.

"Of" sounds fine to me in this sentence, Edison. It's different from your first example. I wouldn't use "to" in this sentence.

 

[EdisonBhola]

Would the same principle hold true if I replace "principles" with "parts", "aims", "drawbacks", etc.?

e.g.
There are three aims to the scheme. (which means "The scheme has three aims.")

 

[EdisonBhola]

May I add to this thread, which was started over a year ago?

I'd like to know whether I should use "to" or "of" in the following:

There are many advantages to/of reading.

Are both acceptable? Many thanks!

 

[Andygc]

With no additional context, it's impossible to say if both are acceptable. It's an odd sentence to say on its own - I can't imagine somebody walking into a room and saying "There are many advantages to/of/about/in/from reading" without then going on to say something more about reading.

 

[EdisonBhola]

With no additional context, it's impossible to say if both are acceptable. It's an odd sentence to say on its own - I can't imagine somebody walking into a room and saying "There are many advantages to/of/about/in/from reading" without then going on to say something more about reading.

Let me provide more information:

There are many advantages to/of reading: you can learn about other cultures, you can expand your vocabulary, and you can also become a more sophisticated person.

 

[Andygc]

I think I'd use "of" or "from" in that sentence. It's not idiomatic for me, though, I'd be far more likely to say "There are many advantage to be had from reading ..."

I will find other comments interesting.

 

[EdisonBhola]

But if you add something after "reading", for example:

There are many advantages of/to reading good novels.

It then suddenly sounds wrong to me to use "of", though I cannot explain why.