A
allthewayanime
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After to 'get close to' is required an infinitive or a gerund and why?
e.g. We were so close to winning.
We were so close to win.
e.g. We were so close to winning.
We were so close to win.
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What you are close to has to be a noun. A gerund is a verbal noun. So you can be either 'close to winning' or 'close to a win'.
b
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Gerund. I am afraid that the answer to the question 'Why is the gerund required? is 'Because it is.'
TheParser
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NOT A TEACHER
(1) In your sentence, the word "to" is, I believe, a preposition.
(a) After a preposition, you always need a noun:
(i) close to a win. (As Teacher Bob taught us.)
(ii) close to winning. ( A gerund, which -- as Teacher Bob reminded us -- is a kind of
noun. For example: Nothing can keep you from (preposition) winning the race.)
(b) Don't get confused with the "to" in the infinitive "to win." That "to" is no longer a
"real" preposition. It is just the sign of the infinitive: TO WIN is great; I love TO WIN.
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