"due to"

Question

"due to" should be followed by "noun" or "gerund", right? But I read a passage in newspaper recently, that is: "C-130 aircraft and two helicopters were due to take to the skies over Victoria Harbour yesterday during the filming of Batman: The Dark Knight."

Is this passage correct?

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

that was correct:

were scheduled to take off

Cool Breeze · Answer

Hi Terrlo

Welcome to EF! It's been 30 years since I visited your home town. It must have changed a lot. I've been to the new airport a couple of times but not set foot in the city.

You are confusing two ways to use due. If a form of to be is used with due, the to that follows is not a preposition but a part of the following verb, part of an infinitive:

The plane was due to arrive at 10 o'clock but it was delayed.

That's why the gerund arriving is wrong in the above sentence. There is a grammatically similar infinitive in this sentence:
I wanted to arrive there in time.

Things change in the following sentence:
Due to leaving home too late, I missed the train.

Now to is a preposition and thus the gerund must be used.

CB

Terrlo56 · Answer

Cool BreezeHi Terrlo

Welcome to EF! It's been 30 years since I visited your home town. It must have changed a lot. I've been to the new airport a couple of times but not set foot in the city.

You are confusing two ways to use due. If a form of to be is used with due, the to that follows is not a preposition but a part of the following verb, part of an infinitive:

The plane was due to arrive at 10 o'clock but it was delayed.

That's why the gerund arriving is wrong in the above sentence. There is a grammatically similar infinitive in this sentence:
I wanted to arrive there in time.

Things change in the following sentence:
Due to leaving home too late, I missed the train.

Now to is a preposition and thus the gerund must be used.

CB

Hi CB, Thank you very much for your help!

"due to"

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