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Jet Li Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Avoid to/-ing

Does "avoid" get "to infinitive or -ing structure?

If so, please, illustrate it.

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

I believe 'to' never follows 'avoid'. ' 'He has a bad temper. '

  • I believe 'to' never follows 'avoid'.
  • ' 'He has a bad temper.
  • '
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7 Answers
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I believe 'to' never follows 'avoid'.

Examples: 'I avoid going to the doctor and dentist because I'm scared of needles.' 'He has a bad temper. It's better to avoid making him angry.'
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But, In google.com, there are a lot of structures including avoid to infinitive.

Are the usages in google true? Are the usages to be made up by Native speakers?
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Hi,

I took a quick look via Google.

Some hits are just incorrect English.

Others are of the form: What fish should I avoid to help the environment? This, of course, is correct English, in which 'to' means 'in order to'.

Did you do a careful search to avoid this kind of correct English?

Best wishes, Clive
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Actually, based on English Verb Hand book, Berlitz ( 0-5210607296-2), page 50, Avoid is always followed by a gerund.
The other verbs which are in this group:
Admit ( confess), appreciate ( being grateful ), avoid ( refuse), complete ( finish sth ), consider, delay, deny ignore),discuss, dislike, enjoy, escape, finish, image, mind= dislike,
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Jet LiBut, In google.com, there are a lot of structures including avoid to infinitive.
No. Those aren't structures with 'avoid' and an infinitive (as a single structure). The only structure that combines 'avoid' with what is to be avoided is 'avoid' plus the -ing form.

'avoid' goes with the words before, and the infinitive goes with the words
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Great! Totally agree with you. Emotion: smile

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