be surprised at hearing / be surprised to hear

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tzfujimino

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Dec 8, 2007
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English Teacher
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Japanese
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Japan
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Japan
Hello, everyone.:-D

Today I have a question as to the usage of 'be surprised at + -ing' and 'be surprised + to-infinitive'.

One of the students at my school wrote:

1. My mother was surprised at hearing the news.

(I'm pretty sure that the student used the -ing form (a gerund) because of the preposition 'at'.)

I believe it is grammatically correct, but I think it would be more natural to say:

2. My mother was surprised to hear the news.

or simply

3. My mother was surprised at the news.

Is the sentence #1 written by the student acceptable/natural?

Thank you.
 

Rover_KE

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Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
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British English
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England
Current Location
England
1 is acceptable but 2 and 3 are better.
 
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