for all intents and purposes

Alright, time for Grammar Times with Uncle N.J. Today's lesson: "intensive purposes."

Intensive purposes are purposes which are totally freaking intense. At virtually no time should the words "for all" precede "intensive purposes."

On the other hand, "intents and purposes" are two words that mean basically the same thing and which imply, when used in conjunction with "for all," that the succeeding independent clause covers most categories.

Thus, "for all intents and purposes, the man was dead," means that the man was essentially dead or would soon be dead as a practical matter.

"For all intensive purposes, the man was dead," would mean the man was dead for some sort of undefined intense purpose. In other words, except under VERY specific conditions, this phrase doesn't make any sense.

So please remember, for all intents and purposes, you will almost always use the phrase "for all intents and purposes" before "for all intensive purposes."