As has been done in the other essays, we'll start off with the meaning of each word, and then go on to the examples and deeper explanations.
To: preposition
1.) expressing motion in the direction of
2.) expressing location
3.) expressing a point reached
4.) identify a noun being affected by a verb
5.) identifying relationships
(there are more, but you should get it by the time we get through these five)
as an infinitive marker
1.) used with the base form of a verb to indicate that the verb is in the infinitive
2.) used without a verb following when the missing verb is clearly understood
as an adverb
1.) being closed or nearly closed
The simple two letter word of to is extremely complex, but rather easy to grasp when one has a good grasp of the language itself. As a matter of fact, the English language is one of a very few to have this kind of a word. It most certainly is not found in languages like Spanish or French. Instead, the verbs used in those languages imply the meaning of to when used in their basic, unconjugated forms. Where as we would say "What would you like to drink?" one would instead ask "Que bebir por tu?" in Spanish. Que being the what, por being for, and tu meaning you. Bebir, however, is one word that must be translated into two words in our language. Bebir would become "to drink" in English although the ir ending is what actually makes it the infinitive "to" drink. In essence, English is a rather backwards language compared to most--if not all--other Latin based languages.
Now, on to how exactly to use the word "to" as opposed to "two" and "too." (As if I haven't already given you enough examples from the start of this essay...)
Anyway, the spelling "to" is mainly used as a preposition just like other prepositions like above, below, near, and other conditional words.
"He said he wanted to go to the market today."
One could have the conversation more like this:
"He said he wanted to go."
"Where to?"
"To the market."
But to is still in every single sentence, each with a slightly different meaning. In the first sentence, ("He said he wanted to go.") "to" is used as a way to make go not be the main verb. In this case, want is the verb and "to go" tells us what the subject "wanted" to do.
In the following question, "to" indicates wanting information on where the subject was going, and in the third it is the same, but put at the beginning of the sentence as an adverb, although we do not actually see the verb. Because this is a spoken conversation, fragments like this are acceptable, but in general writing, "to the market" is not a complete sentence. We implicitly know that the verb is "go" from the previous sentences, but that still does not make it correct. This is yet another aural tradition changed by time and human nature.
Since that pretty much covers the use of "to," we will now continue to "two."
Two is the spelling of the number 2, meaning more than one, less than three, but still a whole number.
People have two eyes. He has two left feet (to have "two left feet" is an expression meaning one cannot dance well). The two [people] sat down on a bench near the river.
See? Really not that hard compared to "to" now is it?
Next comes "too." This one is far simpler than "to" but a slight bit more complicated than "two."
Too is an expression of the word "also," and it also can express a greater amount of something.
As the word also: "I want to come, too!"
As the second meaning (given two ways): He had too much to eat at dinner last night." "There was too little chocolate to share between the three girls for the whole week."
This word actually did come from "to" unlike "two."
The spelling of "too" came about in the 16th century and has held the meanings of also and a greater amount since.
The word "two" comes through Dutch, German, and Old English all from the Latin "duo."
Once again, what information is here comes from MacBook dictionary except for the examples which are my own. Also, the Spanish is of my own understanding. If there are any errors, please contact me with the corrections you find needed and I will replace the incorrect information promptly.
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Chapter notes: Actually, I'm quite happy not to see mistakes with these words as much as with the other ones. Still, there are a few out there who haven't quite grasped the difference yet. They know that they're different words, just not which spelling goes to which meaning. So, once again, I'm here to help!