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I was trying to make a Japanese sentence using て form to make a sentence that
"Describes the manner in which the second verb is performed". While making my
sentence I ran into a snag. Here what I was trying to say

> I will study for the test by reading my textbook

and here is what I have written for the sentence so far:

> [教科書]{きょうかしょ}を 読{よ}んで、 テスト **？** [勉強]{べんきょう}します

the ? is for the fact that I'm not sure what particle I would put in to show,
for lack of a better word, "for". I know for in the Japanese language has many
different definitions but I'm just wondering about this specific scenario. I'm
pretty sure it's between を, に, or maybe even て form, but I'm unsure which
exactly it might be. Any help with this as always is appreciated and if you
see anything else wrong with the sentence let me know. (looking at you
よんで/よんでいる)
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2015-10-20T06:22:34.150
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2015-10-20T20:42:29.827
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grammar particles て-form
How would you say "doing something in preparation for something else"?
It's not just a particle that is missing.

の **ため** に means for (the purpose of)

> きょうかしょを よんで、テストのためにべんきょうします

のために is linked together with the noun that stay in front of it, in your case
テスト. Some other examples:

> 笑顔のために -> For your smile
>
> 私のために -> For me
>
> 何のために？ -> What for/Why?

You could however use a verb too in front of this expression but you have to
drop the first の.

> 生きるために -> In order to live
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2015-10-20T07:52:58.557
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There are specific phrases for this, **テスト勉強** and **試験勉強** (preparation for a
test/exam). The most common wording in this situation would be:

  * 教科書を読んで試験勉強をします。
  * 教科書を読んでテスト勉強をします。

See [this question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/19564/5010) about the
difference between 試験 and テスト. If you don't know whether you need を after 勉強,
see [this question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/4006/5010).

If you want to use some particle between 試験 and 勉強, you can also say:

  * 教科書を読んでテスト **の** 勉強をします。
  * 教科書を読んでテスト **のために** 勉強をします。

But I think the latter is too wordy and not used commonly.

You may think that テストの勉強 is ambiguous and can mean "the study about the
examination itself (ie, [the history of
examination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_\(assessment\)#History))". But
don't worry, テストの勉強 is almost always understood as preparation for an exam.
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2015-10-20T18:40:13.927
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Somewhat related to this, to convey that an action is done in preparation of
something else (unspecified), 「〜ておく」can be used. In particular, though the
nuance is different, you might say

  * 明日テストがあるので、今晩は勉強しておくつもりです。

(There is a test tomorrow, so this evening I plan to study [in preparation for
it].)

Without the first clause, there is an implied reason that you are studying in
preparation of, so if the fact that there is a test is already in the context
of the conversation, you don't need to repeat it.
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