By Gerunds, Idioms

I think, yes, it must be 'historical', historico-fictive, or at best doggedly rural. Merriam-Webster has 'about starved' ~ 'almost starved', which also sounds odd to me; though if someone told me it was an AmE/rural BrE idiom, I wouldn't be surprised. So perhaps 'about + gerund' once = 'on the...

Hello Komountain and Paco I'm more than happy to continue this discussion! I too want to clear up the doubts. So please don't be concerned - it's no trouble at all. I hope you don't mind if I answer both your posts at once. Fowler's article in 'Modern Usage' on the gerund gives this example,...

1.How much water does that tank..........? a) comprise b) include c) consist d) contain (I'm not sure between 'comprise' and 'contain') "comprise" takes as its object(s) persons or things that are constituent parts. "That tank comprises a lot of water" says that a lot of water is a...

Yes, indeed. This is not the 'to' of an infinitive, it is a particle of the idiom 'look forward to', which takes a noun (in this case, the gerund 'hearing') as object. 'I look forward to our next dinner meeting.' 'And I look forward to seeing you there.'