Usage of "left for dead"

Why would someone say "left for dead" but not "left to die" or "left for his/her death" ?

I'm not a native English speaker but I do understand the meaning of that phrase. From a grammatical point of view, why would we use an adjective here ?

Solution 1:

"Left for dead" and "left to die" are both used. In fact, "left to die" is somewhat more common. (See the ngram below.)

The two, though, have slight different meanings.

• To leave someone to die implies that you know the person is alive. (If person is to die they can't be dead yet.)
• To leave someone for dead is to assume the person is dead, or to as if the person were dead.

You ask why we would use for dead. These differences can carry a lot. The latter has an extra nonchalance or disregard: you don't care enough about the person to see if they are alive. Alternatively, the former could be more malicious (you know they are alive and choose not to help) or despairing (you know they are alive but that there is nothing you can do).

Solution 2:

1. The victim was "left for dead" by the attacker who thought he had killed him.
2. The badly injured victim was "left to die" after the attacker ran off.

I use the idiom "left for dead" in the context of implying not only the intent, but also the belief that the action was accomplished.

Solution 3:

Somebody "left for dead" might in fact be dead already, while somebody "left to die" is assumed to still be alive.

Solution 4:

The two terms, "left for dead" and "left to die" normally refer to different viewpoints. "Left for dead" is an attribute or description of the victim. "left to die" normally refers to a specific choice or act attributable to someone other than the victim.