English UsageComparison guide

Accustomed To Doing vs. Accustomed To Do

Cambridge records accustomed to something and gives -ing examples such as being accustomed to working or being treated in a particular way. Do not interpret the “to” after accustomed as an infinitive marker in this construction.

Quick answer

Use “accustomed to doing” when describing something familiar through repeated experience; the “to” belongs to the adjective + preposition pattern.

Key details

Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familypreposition and verb-complement pattern
TermsAccustomed To Doing, Accustomed To Do

Further guidance

Boundary

Do not interpret the “to” after accustomed as an infinitive marker in this construction.

Construction

Cambridge records accustomed to something and gives -ing examples such as being accustomed to working or being treated in a particular way.

Decision

Use “accustomed to doing” when describing something familiar through repeated experience; the “to” belongs to the adjective + preposition pattern.

Sources and evidence

Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.

  1. accustomed to something — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Accustomed to takes a noun or -ing complement; Cambridge examples include accustomed to working/being treated

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Cambridge records “accuse someone of something” and specifically “accuse someone of doing something.” That supports of + -ing when the action is the alleged wrongdoing.

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Adapt To Doing vs. Adapt To Do

Cambridge distinguishes adapt to a situation or activity from transitive patterns such as adapting plans to fit new circumstances. The surface sequence “adapt … to + verb” therefore needs its grammatical structure identified before choosing an -ing form or infinitive.

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Apologize For Doing vs. Apologize To Do

Cambridge distinguishes “apologize to someone” from “apologize for something/doing something.” You can combine the two roles, as in “apologize to someone for doing something”; “to” marks the recipient while “for” marks the reason.

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Approve Of Doing vs. Approve To Do

Cambridge distinguishes intransitive “approve of” for a favorable opinion from transitive “approve something” for official acceptance or authorization. The official-authorization sense uses transitive “approve” with an object; do not collapse that separate sense into the “approve of doing” judgment pattern.

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Ban Someone From Doing vs. Ban Someone To Do

Oxford documents the person-action pattern as be banned + from + -ing and separately documents direct-object uses of ban. The cited evidence does not support person + to-infinitive as the equivalent prohibition construction.

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Bar Someone From Doing vs. Bar Someone To Do

Cambridge records bar + person + from + doing for officially preventing or disallowing an action. Bar also has direct-object and bar-to-place patterns, but person + to-infinitive is not the parallel action complement.

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