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	grammar


	Look forward to + ing

Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

Practise with a grammar game

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.

Because of this, learners tend to write/say I look forward to see you, etc. This is incorrect.

The reason for this lies in the fact that the word to can be an infinitive marker (as in the three examples above), but it can also be a preposition. When to is a preposition, it can be followed either by a noun or by the -ing form of the verb:

			I look forward to *our meeting*.
			I look forward to *meeting* you.

Other common expressions that work in the same way are:

Be/get used to

Get round to

Object to

			He couldn't get used to driving on the other side of the road.
			He couldn't get used to the new traffic rules.
			I'm not used to getting up so early.
			I'm not used to early starts.
			I'll get round to doing it.
			I'll get round to it.
			I object to working overtime with no extra pay.
			I object to unpaid overtime work.

To see examples of the use of these expressions, see the Web Concordancer. Type look forward to, am used to, is used to, are used to, was used to, were used to, get used to, got used to, get round to, got round to, object to or objected to into the 'search string' field, select any corpus in the 'select corpus' field, and then click on the 'search for concordances' button.