Thursday, March 13, 2008

The use of 'to' as an infinitive and preposition

In my earlier post, 'to' is used as an infinitive. For example, 'to' in the following sentence is an infinitive:

He came to visit me when I was ill.

I am going to discuss the use of 'to' as a preposition in this post.

As I mentioned in my post very much earlier, a preposition can be followed by a noun/noun phrase, a pronoun or an ing-verb. The examples below should make this point clear:

Example 1

My grandmother looks after my sister when my mother is at work.

['my sister' behind the preposition 'after' is a noun phrase and 'work' after the preposition ‘at’ is a noun.]

Example 2

The police are still after him.

[The pronoun 'him' is used after the preposition 'after']

Example 3

They kept on trying until they succeeded.

[The word after the preposition 'on' is an ing-verb or a gerund.]

Now look at how 'to' is used as a preposition through the following examples:

Example 1

Diligence is the key to success.

[The noun 'success' is used after 'to'.]

Example 2

The extortionist resorted to force when his victim refused to part with his money.
[It is another case of a noun after a preposition.]

Example 3

They talked to her to calm her.

[The pronoun 'her' is used after 'to' which is used as a preposition here.]

Example 4

I look forward to receiving your letter soon.

[The word after 'to' is an ing-verb.]

Example 5

We resorted to using river water as our drink to quench our thirst.

[Another example of using an ing-verb after a preposition.]

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