In Gerunds^x, Prepositions^x

#2 is correct.The verb in question, in the infinitive, is "to look forward (to)". The preposition "to" is obligatory and thus NOT part of the verb that follows it. If the verb that followed it stayed in its infinitive form, then the sentence would become awkward."I look forward to to meet...

Anonymous wrote:He needs to be fighting instead of sitting in a Russian palace, drinking martinis with President Putin.fighting: present participlesitting: gerund (Of is a preposition, all prepositions take gerunds.)drinking: present participle (Nothing to do with of, tells us what 'he' should...

‘To be fighting’ is the continuous (progressive) form of the infinitive, ‘fighting’ is a present participle. I think most of us agree on that. If I read the sentence correctly as " Instead of sitting in a Russian palace and instead of drinking martinis with President Putin, he needs to be...

1. After completing it, please return the form to us. -- Here, on one hand, the phrase 'completing it' seems to be a noun phrase and the 'after' a preposition; on the other hand, the whole "After completing it" seems to be an adverbial phrase. Help. What exactly is it? A subordinating...

I'd say sitting & drinking are gerunds (used with the preposition "instead of"), the 1st one is the -ing form of the progressive form.

The expression look forward to + ing (and others formed in the same way) often cause learners confusion, because, when studying gerunds and infinitives, they learn that the word to is usually followed by an infinitive: I want to go. I need to see you. I promise to give it to him....

At least in subject position, the gerund is by far more common in most contexts. The use of the infinitive can raise the register, but that may be undesirable -- unless the speaker wishes to be seen as one who speaks in poetic aphorisms! To err is human; to forgive is divine. To go to...

2 is correct, except is preposition here so it should follow a gerund.

Cool Breeze wrote: Goodman wrote: "Participating on the board ..." is the correct prep. from where I stand. Hi Goodman I see. In other varieties of English participate takes in: par·tic·i·pate, v., -pat·ed, -pat·ing. –v.i.1. to take or have a part or share, as with others; partake;...

Hi KFEWelcome to EF. You have already learned about the continuous tenses (I am reading, he is coming etc.) and no doubt you'll learn about other ways to use the ing-ending in due course.Because there are only a handful of inflections in English, the same verb forms must be used in many functions...