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Sarunnio Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Commit

Hi All,

I'm a little confused with the meaning of the word "commit" because of two different meanings of the word.

Am I right if the word can be used to explain when one does something illegally?
For example, I have committed a crime. It means I did something harmful to people's lives or society.

For another meaning, commit can also mean "promise". For example, I commit to provide high quality service to customers.

Please correct me if I got it wrong.

Thanks,
  

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You are right

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5 Answers
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You're correct. The first is transitive and the second is intransitive, "commit to completing a drug rehab program," eg.

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I use it with to (preposition) plus gerund (providing), which means when you alternatively use the infinitive (to provide) you can't use the "to" as a preposition. The long and the short if it is that I think the use of the infinitive i
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Thanks.

When I looked back at my post again, I could even recognize that mistake myself.
You're right. Gerund must be used in this case.
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Yes, but, "commit" is a transitive verb. It really needs an object. "Commit to" is a modern, rather lazy (in my opinion) form of words, in which one has omitted the object ("myself" in this case). It comes from the Latin "committere" which basically means "to send" or perhaps " to entrust" . You have to send or entrust something or someone, otherwise what is the point? If you are using "commit" i
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Thanks for bringing this up, Anon. I was quite surprised just now to find that my American Heritage doesn't list an intransitive usage. I'll have to consider the implications of this sometime when I'm awake. (It's obvious that you've already done so.)

Thanks again.
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