Infinitives and Prepositions: Common Grammar Mistakes 😲

Hi everyone. It's Jennifer. You know, I recently took a trip to my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Let me share a few things about that trip. See if you can catch any grammar mistakes.

When I arrive in Pittsburgh, I always look forward to drive over bridges.

Pittsburgh is known as the City of Bridges.

That's because it has three rivers. The Allegheny River meets the Monongahela and they flow into the Ohio River.

Any mistake so far?

There was one. I said, "I always look forward to drive over bridges."

I should have said, "I always look forward to driving over bridges."

"Look forward to" is a phrasal verb. TO is one of the particles.

"Look forward to" takes an object.

A transitive phrasal verb isn't followed by an infinitive. We can use a noun or a gerund as the object.

Here are two other transitive phrasal verbs that end with the particle TO.

come down to

face up to

I've visited relatives in and around the Pittsburgh area.

I have many associations with my home state,

particularly western Pennsylvania. One of those associations is polka music..

polka music and polka dancing.

I admit to be embarrassed when I dance the Polka as a girl, but now I kind of missed the opportunity to dance.

Well, this past weekend my cousin's invited me to go to their church picnic.

After dinner, the priest got out his button box and played Slovenian music. I enjoyed hearing it.

I grew up listening to polish Serbian and Slovenian music.

I remember dancing with my grandparents and my cousins at polka festivals.

Did you catch another mistake?

I said, "I admit to be embarrassed." I should have said, "I admit being embarrassed."

"Admit" is a transitive verb and we can use a noun or a gerund as the object.

But it's also possible to use the preposition TO after "admit."

This is a verb + preposition

combination you can learn. I admit to being embarrassed.

Do not use an infinitive after "admit."

"Admit" and "confess" are two verbs that follow this pattern.

You can admit something or admit to doing something.

You can confess something or confess to doing something.

On my first night back in Pittsburgh, I went out to dinner with relatives.

They took me to an old inn that served dinner in a courtyard, so we ate alfresco.

What I really appreciated was the size of my meal. The portions were just right.

Too many American restaurants tend to serve large portions, so we're tempted to overeat.

I think eating smaller portions throughout the day is a good alternative to stuff yourself at dinner.

Did everything sound right? I said something wrong at the end.

I said, "Eating smaller portions throughout the day is a good alternative to stuff yourself at dinner."

I should have said,

"An alternative to stuffing yourself at dinner."

Noun + preposition is another pattern that can combine with gerunds.

You'll see this pattern with these nouns:

A common mistake is to identify TO as part of an infinitive rather than a prepositional phrase.

TO as a preposition or a particle in a phrasal verb must be followed by a noun or

something that behaves like a noun.

Gerunds behave like nouns.

Can you quickly tell the difference between infinitives and prepositional phrases? Let's see.

Here's a set of questions you can answer for practice. Answer in complete sentences.

Note in the first question how I used a noun before the gerund "calling."

Remember that a gerund phrase may include a person who does the action.

Here's another example.

Who's staying? - You.

You staying. I don't mind you staying another night.

I could also say, "I don't mind your staying another night. You're welcome to stay as long as you want."

"Your staying" is a possessive gerund.

The possessive gerunds are more standard. Use possessive gerunds in more formal contexts.

But you'll hear the possessive gerund used in all situations.

It's probably more conversational to say, "I don't mind you staying here another night."

Using an object pronoun rather than a possessive adjective.

Well, that's all for now. If you found this lesson useful, please remember to like this video.

As always, thanks for watching and happy studies.

Become a member of my learning community. Click the join button to become a member of my YouTube channel English with Jennifer.

You'll get a special badge, bonus posts,

on-screen credit and a monthly live stream. Note that YouTube channel memberships are not available in every country at this time.

Join me on my YouTube community tab for helpful posts each week.

If you haven't already, please subscribe to my channel. That way you'll get notification of every new video I upload to YouTube.