Whether a Gerund or an Infinitive.

#1 (**permalink**) 27-Aug-2003, 12:05

"We look forward to meeting with you ..." - In this construction is "meeting" a Gerund or an Infinitive. If gerund then why it follows "to" and if not then why not "to meet". Kindly answer.

Regards
S. Ghatak
Kolkata, India

dduck · #2 (**permalink**) 27-Aug-2003, 17:58

"We look forward to meeting with you ..."

You can usually tell if a verb is functioning as a gerund by substituting other nouns to see if the sentence continues to make sense. So ...

"We look forward to it" - sounds okay to me!

So "meeting with you" is functioning as a gerund phrase.

Perhaps, it might help you if you consider the word 'to' to belong to the verbal phrase 'to look forward to' rather than the verb 'to meet'.

Iain

Tdol · #3 (**permalink**) 27-Aug-2003, 19:57

If you have two prepositions in a phrasal verb, and 'to' is the last, then we use a gerund.

RonBee · #4 (**permalink**) 28-Aug-2003, 07:24

A suggestion. Say: "Why does it follow "to"?

:)

norlina · #5 (**permalink**) 20-Sep-2006, 08:31

To as preposition will take gerund, while to as infinitive will take verb.
E.g:

I look forward to hearing from you. (to preposition)

I am going to cut my hair today. (to infinitive)

Humble · #6 (**permalink**) 21-Sep-2006, 04:27

Hi Norlina,
You may have made a mistake:
I am going to have my hair cut today - is better, unless you are really going to do it yourself.


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