admit to or admit -ing

0"Admit" is a gerund taker and the gerund can connote the action happened prior to "admit". So "she admitted making a mistake". When "admit" is used in a passive form, the construct should be "be admitted to have done". So "the new law is admitted to have been difficult to enforce".02br
02br
00paco0-

0 01font00Admit to02font00 is an idiom. Technically it consists of the intransitive verb 01font00admit02font00 and the preposition01font00 to02font00. The idiomatic combination 01font00admit to02font00 means 01fon

0 Your subject line says "admit to or admit -ing". There is a third choice: "admit to -ing".02br
02br
00 Use "admit to -ing". You can also use "admit -ing". Do not use "admit to" followed by a verb without the -ing except in the passive usage (01b00was admitted02b00 to be difficult).02br
02br
01i00She admitted to making

paco2004"Admit" is a gerund taker and the gerund can connote the action happened prior to "admit". So "she admitted making a mistake". When "admit" is used in a passive form, the construct should be "be admitted to have done". So "the new law is admitted to have been difficult to enforce".paco

I didn't understand about this gerund taker thing. Raymond

Mikaelgerund taker

A word that is normally followed by a gerund (-ing verb).

MikaelRaymond Murphy says that this verb, when followed by another one, takes the ing form.

So Raymond Murphy is saying that this verb is "a gerund taker".

MikaelWikidictionary also says that this verb is a catenative

CalifJimHe admits to go. Wrong.
They admit to find it. Wrong.
She admitted to be seen there. Wrong.

That's what I thought until seeing this sentence: The appointment is now generally admitted to have been a mistake.

Shouldn't that be admitted to having been?

That sentece I got from the Oxford Dictionary.

I wrote above:

Do not use "admit to" followed by a verb without the -ing except in the passive usage (was admitted to be difficult).

I neglected to add this underlined phrase after "Never" when I restated the rule again for you.

This means that this, with its passive "is admitted", is correct:

The appointment is now generally admi

CalifJimShe admitted to making a mistake.
She admitted making a mistake.

Do those sentences have the same meaning or you used them just to give a example?

Can I say:

She admits to being strict with her children.
She admits being strict with her children.

He admitted to all his mistakes

MikaelDo they have the same meaning?

Within each pair of examples, of course, yes.

MikaelAre they gramatically correct?

Yes. I don't see any problems with them.

CJ

Hello, I've got another question.

If these two sentences have the same meaning...

She admits to being strict with her children.
She admits being strict with her children

...have they any difference?
Could it be, that one sentence is more formal than the other one? If it is so, which one?

Thank you!