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It is important to know which words need a following “to” + “-ing” rather than a “to” infinitive
THE PROBLEM WITH THE WORD “to”
Why is it right to say I look forward to visiting you and not I look forward to visit you? After all, English does not say *I want to visiting you. The answer is that look forward to and want to have different kinds of to, which require different things after them.
The to after look forward is a preposition, while the other is the to of infinitive verbs (e.g. TO BE, TO HAVE and TO INTRODUCE). It is normal in English for verbs after a preposition to have -ing (cf. 70. Gerunds) and for infinitive verbs not to have it. These opposing uses of to make it a good example of the many small words in English that might be called “multi-use” (see 3. Multi-Use Words).
It is quite easy when you are learning English to think that the to after LOOK FORWARD is the infinitive one, and hence to write the partner verb without -ing (LOOK FORWARD gives other problems too: see 271. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 3, #1). One possible reason for the error is the similarity of the meaning of LOOK FORWARD to the meanings of verbs that take an infinitive, such as EXPECT, LIKE and WANT (see 140. Words with Unexpected Grammar 2, #c). Another reason may be the fact that prepositional to is quite rare after verbs, so that to doing instead of to do can sound rather strange.
In this post I wish to consider how we know that to is a preposition after LOOK FORWARD, and which other words in English have the same kind of to.
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TESTS FOR PREPOSITIONAL “to”
A useful way to see if any word is a preposition is to check whether it sounds right directly before the + NOUN (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #1). For example, on, off and near are prepositions because it sounds right to say on the bus, off the bus and near the bus. The “to” of look forward to can definitely be used in this preposition way, as shown in the following example, where the verb visiting has been changed into the noun the visit.
(a) I look forward to the visit.
The “to” of want, on the other hand, is not a preposition, since it does not sound correct with the and a noun directly after it:
(b) *I want to the visit.
Behaviour before nouns is not the only way to distinguish the two kinds of to. They also divide sentences in different places:
(c) I look forward to / visiting you.
(d) I want / to visit you.
In (c) the to is part of the first verb, while in (d) it belongs to the second. We can prove this by considering what to write when there is no second verb, like this:
(e) I ……………….. the visit.
If we put look forward into the blank space here, we still need to; but if we put want, using to is not possible. Thus, to is always needed when look forward is used so must be part of it, but it is not always needed when want is used, so it cannot be part of want.
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OTHER WORDS WITH A PROBLEMATIC “to”
The verb LOOK FORWARD TO is of the kind commonly called “prepositional”: it ends with a preposition that is more closely linked to it than to any following noun. As indicated above, there are a few other prepositional verbs that also have to. They are similarly easy to link incorrectly with a following verb, and hence might profitably be illustrated here.
The most basic kind of prepositional verb is just two words (see 44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs). Common examples with to are ADAPT TO, APPLY TO, BELONG TO, CONTRIBUTE TO, RESORT TO and TAKE TO. Examples of their use with -ing are in an exercise at the end of this post. There is also TURN TO, which can have either kind of to depending on its meaning. An example of the prepositional use is:
(f) The speaker then turned to describing some problem cases.
This means the speaker started doing something new (describing problem cases). The use with non-prepositional to, by contrast, is illustrated in the following:
(g) The speaker then turned to write on the board.
The meaning now is that the speaker physically turned his/her body in order to write something behind him/her. The infinitive form to write is actually one of purpose.
A further group of prepositional verbs have a noun between the verb and the preposition (see 123. Prepositional Verbs Containing a Noun). The likelihood of the preposition in these being to seems slightly greater, examples being APPLY ONESELF TO (see 261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3, #1), ATTACH IMPORTANCE TO, ATTRACT SOMEONE TO, DEDICATE SOMETHING/ ONESELF TO, GIVE ATTENTION TO, GIVE EMPHASIS TO, INTRODUCE SOMEONE TO and PUT A STOP TO. Underlining here shows frequent use in the passive voice, with the noun before to moved into the subject position (see 281. Words with Unexpected Grammar 4, #a).
The usual test for the necessity of -ing after these verbs – seeing whether they feel correct with a following noun instead of verb – seems quite easy to apply, since use with a noun is likely to be very familiar. For example, knowing that …introduced the class to Chinese is correct can indicate that …introduced the class to reading in Chinese must also be correct.
Thirdly, there are some prepositional verbs that contain an adverb (grammarians usually call them “phrasal-prepositional”: see 139. Phrasal Verbs). Again, formation with prepositional to is not so rare. Examples are FACE UP TO, GIVE IN TO, GO BACK TO, GO ON TO, GO OVER TO and MOVE ON TO. It is this group to which LOOK FORWARD TO also belongs.
So far, all of the mentioned places where to needs -ing have been after a verb. There are, however, also a few nouns and adjectives with this requirement – hardly surprising given that nouns and adjectives are very commonly able to be expanded by a preposition (see 252. Descriptive Wording after Nouns 1 and 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it).
The reason why uncertainty can arise about adding -ing to a verb after a noun or adjective + to is, of course, that many such nouns and adjectives do not allow -ing, preferring a following infinitive instead. This is the case, for example, with the noun need and the adjective willing (see 83. Adjectives before a “to” Verb and 239. Noun Phrases Made with a “to” Verb).
Nouns that do commonly combine with to -ing include addition, alternative (see 266. Indicating Alternatives, #4), approach, equivalence, exception (see the end of 215. Naming Exceptions), introduction, opposition and solution. Note also view in the multi-word preposition with a view to (see 296. Tricky Word Contrasts 12, #4). Adjectives include accustomed, averse, conducive, equivalent, identical, open (= willing), prone, similar, subsidiary, superior and used.
Used (+ to + -ing or a noun) is well-known as a particularly confusing adjective for inexperienced speakers of English. It means “less affected (by something good or bad) because of multiple previous experiences of it”:
(h) Children in nurseries become used to playing with friends.
This says children in nurseries generally increase their familiarity with playing with friends since they often experience it. Used in this sense always needs the following to + -ing or noun. The commonest confusions are with the similarly-spelt passive participle of the verb USE (= “utilised”: see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending), and with the past tense of USE placed before an infinitive to describe a discontinued past habit:
(i) Children used to play with friends.
This means children habitually played with friends in the past but do not do so now. Importantly, this kind of used to has no present tense equivalent: to describe a present habit, no form of USE is correct: the habit verb must instead be in the present simple tense alongside a suitable adverb like regularly – regularly play above. One could even use such an adverb with a verb in the past simple tense, replacing the also-correct used to: regularly played in (i).
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PRACTICE EXERCISE: PREPOSITIONAL VERBS WITH “to”
Rewrite each sentence below so it contains the to verb(s) given in brackets at the end (followed by -ing). Answers are given afterwards.
1. The government had promised that they would cut taxes. (COMMITTED THEMSELVES TO).
2. The government did not think it right to cut taxes. (WAS OPPOSED TO)
3. Children should gradually be shown how to exercise vigorously. (BE INTRODUCED TO)
4. Descartes’ Meditationes again discusses the mind-body split. (RETURNS TO)
5. People who must always sniff glue often fall so low that they steal. (ARE ADDICTED TO, ARE REDUCED TO)
6. Do not become a social worker if you do not want to help the poor. (ARE NOT ATTRACTED TO)
7. Destroying forests is one way to warm the earth’s atmosphere. (CONTRIBUTES TO)
8. If a child cannot understand a definition, the teacher may try instead to give examples. (RESORT TO)
9. Some pleasurable activities need much repetition before people start liking to do them. (TAKE TO)
10. Humans can quite easily change their behaviour so that they can live in a new climate. (ADAPT TO)
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ANSWERS
1. The government had committed themselves to cutting taxes.
2. The government was opposed to cutting taxes.
3. Children should gradually be introduced to exercising vigorously.
4. Descartes’ “Meditationes” returns to discussing the mind-body split.
5. People who are addicted to sniffing glue often are reduced to stealing.
6. Do not become a social worker if you are not attracted to helping the poor.
7. Destroying forests contributes to warming the earth’s atmosphere.
8. If a child cannot understand a definition, the teacher may resort to giving examples.
9. Some pleasurable activities need much repetition before people take to doing them.
10. Humans can quite easily adapt to living in a new climate.