The usage of TO

Question

How can I judge wheather the TO behind a noun is a preposion or a infinitive?
For example , "i do not have time to go there "in which TO is a infinitive whereas " i devote myself to doing sth" in which TO is a infinitive.
Is there any principle about the usage of TO? Thank you !

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

AnonymousHow can I judge wheather the TO behind a noun is a preposion or a infinitive?

If 'to' precedes a noun or gerund, it must be a preposition. The infinitive marker 'to' precedes verbs in their dictionary form.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousHow can I judge whether the TO ~~behind~~ after a noun is should be a preposition or an infinitive?

I believe the question above is what you wanted to ask.
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It's difficult to tell you how to judge this unless you know English pretty well and can spontaneously generate similar sentences which you know to be correct.

If you can put a noun after 'to', then the -ing form of the verb is most likely to be the correct choice. Otherwise, the base form (without -ing) is the correct choice.

In the first case, I can't think of any noun (phrase) that makes sense after 'time to'. These, for example, make no sense in English:

I do not have time to tennis. (Wrong.)
I do not have time to my hobbies. (Wrong.)

Therefore, you need the base form of a verb after 'to', thus forming an infinitive.

In the second case, I can think of nouns that make sense after 'devote myself to'.

I devote myself to tennis. (OK.)
I devote myself to my hobbies. (OK.)

Therefore, if you're not using a noun there, then you need the -ing form of a verb after 'to', thus forming a gerund.
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An alternate method is just to memorize the most common cases where the -ing form is needed.

See
and follow the links at the end of that post as well.

CJ

The usage of TO

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