What does devoted mean in this sentence?
So I'm reading a book and I came across a sentence I couldn't grasp the meaning of, which is :

#I devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking of death

About the grammar in this sentence, why is it "to thinking" and not "devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time thinking of death"?

Thank you !

Question

What does devoted mean in this sentence?
So I'm reading a book and I came across a sentence I couldn't grasp the meaning of, which is :

#I devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking of death

About the grammar in this sentence, why is it "to thinking" and not "devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time thinking of death"?

Thank you !

Answer

"Devoted" needs a preposition (and it doesn't have to come immediately afterwards)

Example: "devoted time to thinking..."
Or "devoted to thinking"

Answer

Devoted means committed.

Answer

I'm not sure the actual grammatical reason, but "devoted" is almost always followed by "to" in a sentence. 99% of the time you will use "devoted to" + ___ing. Maybe 1% of the time you will use "devoted in" instead, but it's pretty uncommon.

Verpassen Sie nicht die Gelegenheit, bequem von zu Hause aus eine Sprache zu lernen. Stöbern Sie in unserer Auswahl an erfahrenen Sprachlehrern und melden Sie sich jetzt zu Ihrer ersten Unterrichtsstunde an!