Can gerund be used after "to"?

Asked Nov 21 '17 at 12:05

Active Nov 21 '17 at 12:05

Viewed 31 times

We were taught in school that gerund comes after 'for', while infinitive follows 'to'.

However, I came across this sentence :"Thank you for devoting your time to reading my letter"

Whatever research I try to do on the subject, the only results I get are 'ways to thank people for their time' and 'how to write formal letters' , but it's the given grammar structure i'm interested in.

So can you please help out?

Thank you so much! :)

asked Nov 21 '17 at 12:05

JustARandomGuy

In 'I took time to read your letter', 'to' is the infinitive marker. But in 'I devoted time to reading your letter / to a reasonable exercise regime / to the goldfish', 'to' is on the preposition ... transitivising particle continuum. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 21 '17 at 12:21
Possible duplicate of Looking forward to follow vs. following. See also How the verb becomes a gerund after 'to' eg 'committed to helping you', and other links. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 21 '17 at 12:26
Now here's an answer that you will be able to understand!: Yes, you can -- the gerund-participial clause "reading my letter" is complement of the preposition "to", and your sentence is fine and grammatical. – BillJ Nov 21 '17 at 13:41

Can gerund be used after "to"?

0 Answers0