spend to or spend ving

[neb090]

The world's largest telecommunications company will spend "tens of millions" to encourage people not to use its products and services---at least not when they are behind the wheel.

In this sentence, is "doing something" omitted after "tens of millions?"

Because almost all grammar books say the verb after spend should be gerund.

Source: by Cheryl Hall, The Dallas Morning News. 2013

 

[tedmc]

I think both and infinitive and the gerund work.

 

[neb090]

I think both and infinitive and the gerund work.

I also look it up on the Internet, and almost all the information given is gerund.

 

[tedmc]

There are also a lot of examples using the infinitive here:

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[Tarheel]

The world's largest telecommunications company will spend "tens of millions" to encourage people not to use its products and services---at least not when they are behind the wheel.

You could replace "to encourage" with "encouraging" but that would not be an improvement.

 

[teechar]

The verb "spend" can be followed by either "to-infinitive" or by "-ing". I'll use a different example to clarify the difference:

1- The council spent a lot of money to demolish those buildings.

2- The council spent a lot of money demolishing those buildings.

In #1, "to demolish" means in order to demolish the buildings. In other words, it expresses a purpose.

In #2, "demolishing" means in the process of demolishing the buildings.