Learn English Grammar: When to use an ‘-ING’ word after ‘TO’

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TRANSCRIPT

Now, the one thing that a lot of people forget is that "to" can be a preposition, and that is what you're going to be looking at when you're looking at "to" with an "ing". But there are also some things you have to remember. You have to keep in mind that there are certain collocations. A "collocation" is basically a set of words-a pair, or three, or four words-that just generally go together to have a particular meaning. Right?

So, for example: "look forward to" - these three words generally go together, and they're going to be followed by an "ing". "I look forward to meeting you." Now, where people get confused is they see a verb, and then they see the "to", and they're automatically thinking of another verb. But, here, this "to" is not part of the infinitive. There's two uses for "to": Preposition, and the infinitive "to". Right? Part of the infinitive verb. What you have to remember is that preposition.

"Admit to"... "Admit"... "The student admitted to cheating on the test." So: "Admitted to", what? Remember: The preposition needs an object, and that's what you're going to be answering when you answer the question: "What?" And objects in this particular case are going to be nouns or they're going to be gerunds. They can also be active participle adjectives, but I'll talk about that in a second. "Admit to cheating", "Object to being filmed", for example. So, somebody... I'm a politician and I see a camera coming, and I say: "No, sorry. I object to being filmed. You can ask me questions, but don't film me", basically.

"Get around to" means you will do something. Okay? So: "I'll get around to handing in the proposal later today." Okay? So, basically what you have to do is just remember these collocations.

Where it gets a little bit trickier is when you have adjectives. But before that, "prefer" I forgot to mention. -"I prefer jogging to swimming." -"Do you like jogging?" -"Well, I prefer it to swimming." Right? So it doesn't have to be an "ing"; it can be "it" mentioned before, and then "to", "ing". But this is a comparative "to", preposition. And, again: "to", what? "To" the noun or gerund. So, this is a gerund. It's not a verb, and that's why you can... It can follow "to". Okay? Now, let's look at a little... Something a little bit trickier, and I'll show you a general rule on how you can recognize whether to use "to" as a preposition or a verb.

Now we're going to look at something a little bit different. Okay? We're going to look at adjective participles. Now, "participles" are basically verbs that are used as adjectives. They can be, like, "ed" or irregular verb, and they can be "ing" verbs; passive and active - that's, you know, a different lesson on participles. But you have to also pay attention to how they're being used in the sentence.

Let's look at an example: "The company is committed to providing top-quality customer care." So, here, we have a verb: "commit", and we have: "is committed to". But, here, we're not actually looking at it as a passive verb; we're looking at it as more like an adjective. "The company is committed", right? So, this is telling you about the company. It's like a subject complement; it's acting like an adjective. And, here, this is a complement.

So, basically what does this mean? You have to look and see: What is your independent clause first? Right? And you should know independent clauses by now; and if you don't, I have a video on that as well. So, here: "The company is committed". This is a complete sentence: "The company is committed." To what? I don't know yet. […]

[smendes]

Finally a video about this. A possible tip to distinguish between a To Infinitive and a To Preposition is adding "something" to the sentence. It is works, it is a To Preposition; if it doesn't, it is the other one. Example: He is not used to being interviewed (He is not used to "something") or The company is committed to "something". The "something" is the object of the preposition
and it is expressed with a noun, in this case, a gerund.

[anirbellahcen]

I had been looking for an explanation for the use of "to" instead of "for" until this video came out and made great sense to me. Thank you very much, Sir, You have taught me so much in the last eight years.

[mariojavierjimenezrosario]

Brilliantly explained using the grammatical terminology. I am a Spanish speaking teacher with a major in English Language and have always had doubts concerning this. Thanks to Adam my doubts were cleared out

[herrDOS]

What I like the most is how Adam easily communicates syntax structures and his overall understanding of the language. I kind of want to learn to see English as he does.

[nazmulgani]

Excellent!!! You have clearly, correctly the PREPOSITION """ TO""" and """" infinitive TO", which is not a

[Androck]

You are the best adam, I watch your videos since I was A2 now I'm C1 and I'm an English teacher as well.

[freddyirwanto]

Adam, you are the best English teacher...

[ThePronounI]

Whatever you do, don't lie down while watching this. His voice is so non-threatening and relaxing.

[eugenerhee]

You are one of the best English teachers so far I have ever seen on Youtube.

[sweet_lullaby]

This lesson could not have come at a better time! Thank you Adam💖

[AmatuRahman]

Adam’s the best teacher from EngVid 💯🙌🏼

[Bundeslinda]

An extremely detailed and clear explanation. I like the way you kept repeating the central points. Thank you 😊

[irakha]

Clear & englightening explanation !

[minoobmgh]

You're excellent teacher. Thank you so much for all of your efforts !

[fernandoguerra]

Adam, thanks for sharing this class. I love it and you're a great teacher!

Thank you so much ! 🙏🤗

[matiasisla]

This is an amazing video for learning- refreshing some aspects that you forget when not using them.

[nikovald]

Thanks, I'm improving my English with your great teachings.

[anastasisklimis]

Thank you Adam, I really appreciate your work and effort you put in your videos!!

[josephwebston]

Teacher Adam, your classes are superb. Thanks a lot, salutations from Sao Paulo!! :)

[soloweaponry]

You teach in a perfect manner that could ever be possible. ☺️