Important grammar point: “to +verb +ing” ESL students learn that the infinitive is formed with “to” + the base form of a verb. Then, they see “to” + the -ing form and they wonder what’s going on. Here

Phil｜Accent Trainer

Professional Teacher

Important grammar point: “to +verb +ing”

ESL students learn that the infinitive is formed with “to” + the base form of a verb. Then, they see “to” + the -ing form and they wonder what’s going on. Here’s the explanation:

Chongsheng gave these examples in a recent question (https://www.italki.com/question/423808)

I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

A theoretical approach to understanding consumer behavior.

In these examples, “to” is a preposition, and, like all prepositions, must always be followed by a noun (which may be modified by an adjective or additional prepositional phrases, etc.).

I’m looking forward to___

the (big) game

news from you

What is your approach to___

work?

life?

If we want to use a verb after a preposition, we must first nominalize it (turn it into a noun). The easiest way is to simply use the gerund — the -ing form:

I’m looking forward to___

playing

We can also modify the verbal noun with an adjective or prepositional phrase:

I’m looking forward to___

your playing in the game

We can also use a gerund phrase with a direct object. The subject is understood to be same as in the main part of the sentence:

I’m looking forward to___

playing football

eating Chinese food

If we need to change the subject, we use a possessive adjective to modify the verbal noun (as previously demonstrated):

I’m looking forward to___

your playing in the game

his playing the guitar

(We can also use a real noun:

I’m looking forward to his guitar performance.

Colloquially, it’s probably more common to use the object pronoun instead of the possessive (before the -ing verb). An argument could be made that the -ing verb is a participle, but I don’t believe that to be the case.

I’m looking forward to___

you playing in the game

him playing the guitar

Jan 26, 2018 10:30 PM

Comments · 11

I never object to reading a good explanation like this one. Thanks. Thumbs up.

January 26, 2018

Where I live, it would take weeks for a teacher to explain the exact same thing.

January 27, 2018

Thank you, Michael, for your support – and for cleverly presenting us with an additional example of the structure :)

January 26, 2018

Oh, Thanks dear Phil, exactly some days ago I wanted to make an email and found this sentence and wondered why we should use ''I’m looking forward to hearing from you.'' instead of ''I’m looking forward to hear from you.'' and now the answer is more clear

Thanks Phil

January 27, 2018