stay or staying

[blacknomi]

So learn to lighten up:It's an important step to staying motivated-because remember, motivation is not permanent.


a step to+Ving. Is it another one that needs a gerund after 'to'?

[whl626]

Nope

Stay is correct unless in any case that the ' to ' is used as a preposition. Only then we use ' ing ' with the ' infinitive ' to form a gerund.

[blacknomi]

I think it's strange too, but it's a sentence from Reader Digest.

[whl626]

Hmm maybe what you read is

It's an important step staying motivated .... Right

[blacknomi]

So can we jump to conclusion that the sentence is wrong? :D

[Fleur-de-lys]

Not exactly wrong, Blacknomi, I would say it's clumsy.
Even if it's taken from a magazine like "The Reader's Digest", I often don't view this magazine as being a good representation of the English language.

If we rearrange whl626's sentence[l]xxx]/] thus :xxx "Staying motivated is an important step," then I see nothing grammatically wrong with it.

[Marylin]

Originally Posted by blacknomi

So learn to lighten up:It's an important step to staying motivated-because remember, motivation is not permanent.


a step to+Ving. Is it another one that needs a gerund after 'to'?

How about "important step in staying motivated? :)

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by blacknomi

a step to+Ving. Is it another one that needs a gerund after 'to'?

It's perr-fectly fine. Consider,

. . . step toWARDS staying motivated.

'staying motivated' is a gerundival phrase. Its headed by the gerund 'staying' which takes 'motivated' as its object. The entire phrase 'staying motivated' function as the object of the preposition 'to', which is short for towards. In other words, 'to' is not an infinitive marker. The sentence is fine.

[Steven D]

Originally Posted by blacknomi

So learn to lighten up:It's an important step to staying motivated-because remember, motivation is not permanent.


a step to+Ving. Is it another one that needs a gerund after 'to'?

I think "a step to" should be followed by a gerund, yes. "To" is used as a preposition. "It's an important step in that direction." "To" means "in the direction of". "step to staying motivated"

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=8&q=to

I like "It's an important step in staying motivated." as well.

If "to" is used after "step", then it's still better with the gerund.



I think I once read that some people try to avoid gerunds. There's some rule or idea about how they simply aren't necessary at times. I don't have any information on this "rule" or "idea". I would use a gerund in that sentence. Maybe someone knows something about this idea of "not using gerunds". I think I saw something about it posted in another forum. It would only be of minor interest to me. I know when gerunds are okay and when they're not.