Why the sentences "We look forward to < noun> ..." and "We do not look forward to < verb>..." are both correct ?
A < noun> has to be used in the first and a < verb> has to be used in the second, with no clear cause.
It is not illustrated properly in stack-exchange.
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This seems to be a misunderstanding. Of course you can say "We are not looking forward to swimming" or "We are not looking forward to Sunday". However, when negating a longer sentence it's possible that even a native speaker makes a mistake and says something incorrect like "We are not looking forward to swim all day". – Oct 18 '15 at 20:48
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Student - Please say why you think "We do not" is allowed to have a verb in that position. Where have you heard, seen or read this? It is incorrect. – chasly - supports Monica Oct 18 '15 at 20:53
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@chasly: That was precisely the point of the example. Just read it again under the assumption that I wanted to give two examples for what the OP calls < noun>, and I think it will make sense. – Oct 18 '15 at 20:58
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@HansAdler - I simply don't accept that a native speaker would say, "We are not looking forward to swim all day". Not even if they were drunk! Can you find even one example of this by a native speaker? – chasly - supports Monica Oct 18 '15 at 21:03
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@chasly: I have said much worse things in completely sober state in my native German, and I am sure you have said much worse things in English. It could happen, for example, if, while you are pronouncing "We are not looking forward to", you decide that you really wanted to say "We don't want to". The longer the sentence, the more likely this kind of mistake. We are all used to correcting these mistakes automatically in speech, and we will often deny them if someone notices them. Only in writing they are normally caught and corrected. – Oct 18 '15 at 21:17
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Dear @chaslyfromUK , you mentioned that both cases are correct. That was in your answer to my previous question : (http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/280905/meeting-you-and-to-meet-you?noredirect=1#comment622797_280905) . – Student Oct 18 '15 at 21:58
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@HansAdler - There are some mistakes that native speakers make in everyday conversation. There are some that native speakers make when drunk. This is neither. It just doesn't happen that you would lose track in such a short space of time -- the idiom is so ingrained that such a mistake is inconceivable. We speak it automatically. – chasly - supports Monica Oct 18 '15 at 22:02
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@Student - I just looked. I cannot see anywhere that I have said that. If you want to challenge me on something I said on a different question then please do so on that question, otherwise things will get hopelessly muddled. – chasly - supports Monica Oct 18 '15 at 22:07
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Dear @chaslyfromUK , you are right, I am sorry, I have misunderstood you. The comment, that you wrote, "Yes, we look forward to
, we do not look forward to – Student Oct 19 '15 at 04:39.........." seems to me as two examples to the possible usages. Best regards.
2 Answers
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We look forward (in thhe sense of anticipating) to a noun or a noun phrase. We do not in native English look forward to a verb. To say the latter is to make a mistake and, no matter how forgivable that may be, it is still a mistake.
Afterthought: it is possible to write prose such as "We look forward to see where we are going" but the sense of looking forward is in this case physical rather than anticipatory.
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It's not strictly speaking a verb in the second case. It's a gerund, which is a noun made by taking a verb and adding -ing to the end of it (e.g. in the sentence "I like tea, scones, and talking with good friends.", "talking with good friends" is treated as a noun, because the verb "talk" has been turned into a gerund. It's no longer "talking" the verb, it's "talking" the noun that describes the act of talking). In all cases, "We look forward to..." should end in a noun, it's just that sometimes that noun is a gerund.
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Dear @beatniknight . The sentences "I look forward to meeting my teacher." and "I do not look forward to meet my teacher. " , are they both correct? – Student Oct 18 '15 at 21:41
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@Student: From where are you taking the idea that you can use an infinitive after look forward to when it is negated? Nobody said that in the other question, and nobody said that here. The negation has nothing to do with it. You always need a noun. If you want to use a verb, you must add -ing to turn it into a noun. Negated or not. – Oct 18 '15 at 22:10
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No, gerunds are still verbs: I’m looking forward to quickly giving him his reward. If it were a noun, it would not take adverbs and direct and indirect objects. It’s a verb, and the entire verb phrase is functioning as the object of the preposition. But that doesn't make it a noun. If it were a noun, it would take articles and adjectives — this does not. – tchrist Oct 18 '15 at 22:41
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@tchrist A gerund functions as a noun but can still take a direct object. quickly giving him his reward is a gerund phrase. within the phrase giving functions as a verb but the phrase as a whole functions as a noun. I don't agree with the 0.P's assertion that the two are not entirely interchangeable. I do not look forward to meet my teacher is not correct usage. It should be meeting in both cases. – TomMcW Oct 18 '15 at 22:52
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@Tom A gerund phrase can be used anywhere a noun phrase can be used, but the gerund itself is still a verb. – tchrist Oct 18 '15 at 22:53
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@tchrist a verb that functions as a noun. That's the definition of a gerund. They can still take an object. Eating is enjoyable. Eating fish is enjoyable. Both are gerunds, both are the subject of the sentence. Both function as nouns. – TomMcW Oct 18 '15 at 22:58
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@Tom See http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/205390/what-is-a-gerund-a-noun-or-a-verb-his-smoking-upset-me#comment452901_205390 – tchrist Oct 18 '15 at 23:01
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@tchrist Okay. But I don't see how the distinction between a regular gerund and a deverbal noun is germaine. Are you simply objecting to Hans Adler's characterization of adding "-ing to turn it into a noun?" – TomMcW Oct 18 '15 at 23:32
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@Tom Yes, the answer that this comment chain is attached to. A gerund is a verb and functions as a verb within its gerund clause. Only a gerund clause can take the place of a noun phrase. And it does not reeplace a noun but a noun phrase; you cannot apply noun things to it. – tchrist Oct 18 '15 at 23:41
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@tchrist He did preface it with "strictly speaking." I would not read that to mean that the gerund stopped functioning as a verb entirely. What he's saying is that the verb phrase "look forward to" is wanting a direct object, a noun. If you're placing a verb there it has to be a gerund which is functioning in the sentence as a verb. Whether that word simply functions as a noun or actually becomes a noun is not relevant to his argument. Thank you, though, for pointing out your answer to that other post. I'd never heard of a deverbal noun. How old is that term? – TomMcW Oct 18 '15 at 23:54
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