'To' + 'ing'

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joeviee

#250086 Sat, 29 Jul 06 05:39 AM

Hi,

I'm back. Been busy with works and hadn't had much time to come to the forum. I have a list full of question to ask but let me go slow with it. I might need Goodman's help as well with my Techinical writing, hope he is still around Smile [:)] Goodman, please response to this message if you happen to see this so that I know you are there ready to help ya...

Okie, enough talk. I have a question with the use of 'to'. I'm not sure whether it sounds alright when I use 'ing' following 'to'. Please see the sentence below.

1. There is no shortcut (any other word to replace this?) to learning a language. It needs lots of hardworks and determination than you can imagine.

- Is this sentence sounds natural?

- Is the 'ing' being gramatically right in the sentence considering there is a 'to' in front of it?

Thanks for all the replied~

joeviee

Joined on Sat, Apr 30 2005

Full Member (171)

LanguageLover

#250093 Sat, 29 Jul 06 06:04 AM

Hey joeviee, welcome back,

There is no shortcut to learn a language.

You only use an -ing form following "to" when "to" is a preposition, like "look forward to". You'll master them after a short period of time, don't worry. Good luck.

LanguageLover

Joined on Fri, Feb 25 2005

A proud Iranian living in the UAE

Contributing Member (1,393)

The similarities among the languages are more than their differences!

Prepositions

Inchoateknowledge

#250099 Sat, 29 Jul 06 06:38 AM

No.
In the sentence 'learning' is a verbal, a gerund, and has noun function.
'Shotcut to' In this prepositional phrase 'to' is not the infinitive 'to', but a preposition.
There is no shortcut to learning is fine grammatically.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=73060&dict=CALD

Inchoateknowledge

Joined on Wed, May 3 2006

Senior Member (2,536)

Beep! Beep! :)

Prepositions, Nouns, Gerunds

CalifJim

#250109 Sat, 29 Jul 06 08:20 AM

Here are just a few cases where to is a preposition, not part of an infinitive. The -ing form is used with all prepositions; to is no exception.

shortcut to learning ...
approach to studying ...
key to learning ...
objection to going ...
secret to knowing ...
path to learning ...
aversion to doing ...
reference(s) to going ...

with a view to finding ...

object to, look forward to, pay attention to, take exception to, take to, resort to, get around to, contribute to, devote time to, amount to

be:
restricted to, limited to, reduced to, used to, accustomed to, averse to, given to, committed to

CJ
See also Re: spend, Re: to motivating and energizing, Re: Gerunds question.. when to use & when not to

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,564)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Prepositions

joeviee

#250132 Sat, 29 Jul 06 09:57 AM

Thanks alot for all your suggestions. It is definitely no shortcut to learning English andI love devoting all of my time to memorizing all the exceptions that only English langauge has.

Am I right?

joeviee

Learning English

Inchoateknowledge

#250138 Sat, 29 Jul 06 10:14 AM

There is definitely no... .
I love to devote is correct too. Otherwise your sentence is fine. Wink [;)]

"all the exceptions that only the English langauge has" Have you tried Hungarian?
If it were the most important international language most people would commit suicide.

Inchoateknowledge

Cool Breeze

#250157 Sat, 29 Jul 06 10:58 AM

Joeviee wrote:
Thanks alot for all your suggestions. It is definitely no shortcut to learning English andI love devoting all of my time to memorizing all the exceptions that only English langauge has.

Am I right?

There is an extremely easy way to determine whether to is a preposition or not: put a pronoun or a noun after it. If that is possible, to is a preposition:

I am used to it.
I am used to criticism.

Hence:
I am used to getting up early.

Cheers
CB

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,962)

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.- Mark Twain

Prepositions, Nouns, Pronouns, Learning English

LanguageLover

#250213 Sat, 29 Jul 06 03:04 PM

Thank you all. I'm getting old, that was a good reminder of that! And at the same time encouraging to review my grammar.

LanguageLover

Grammar

CalifJim

#250317 Sat, 29 Jul 06 07:39 PM

joeviee,

That is an excellent illustration that you have understood the idea! A+! Smile [:)]

Just a few minor points not related to the main idea:

There is definitely no shortcut to learning English and I love devoting all of my time to memorizing all the exceptions that only the English language has.

CJ

Go easy on the memorization. All your time? Don't you have to stop and eat occasionally? Smile [:)]

CalifJim

Learning English

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