Admit Doing vs. Admit To Do
Cambridge documents both admit + -ing and admit to + -ing for acknowledging something. Other passive patterns such as “be admitted to be” are separate constructions.
Use “admit doing” or “admit to doing” when acknowledging an action. In “admit to doing,” **to** is a preposition and therefore takes an -ing form; ordinary “admit to do” is not the equivalent pattern.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Need | Standard pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| acknowledge an action | admit + -ing | admit making the error |
| acknowledge an action with “to” | admit to + -ing | admit to making the error |
| different passive construction | be admitted to be + complement | a separate pattern, not the ordinary acknowledgement form |
Quick tests
Acknowledgement test
Are you acknowledging that someone performed an action?
If yes: Use “admit doing” or “admit to doing.”
If no: If you have a different passive construction such as “be admitted to be,” analyze that separately.
Caveat: In “admit to doing,” “to” is prepositional, so it does not license the ordinary bare infinitive pattern “admit to do.”
Examples
She admitted making the mistake.
“Admit + -ing” is a standard acknowledgement pattern.
She admitted to making the mistake.
“To” is followed by the -ing form in this construction.
She admitted to make the mistake.
Better: She admitted to making the mistake.
This is not the ordinary acknowledgement pattern.
Further guidance
Boundary
Do not infer from “admit to …” that a bare verb should follow. “Admit to doing” and passive/raising patterns such as “be admitted to be” need separate analysis.
Construction
Cambridge gives “admit doing” and “admit to doing”; the to in the second pattern is prepositional, not an infinitive marker.
Decision
Use “admit doing” or “admit to doing” for acknowledgement of an action.
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.
- admit — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Admit doing and admit to doing patterns, with to functioning as a preposition before -ing
- Verb patterns: verb + infinitive or verb + -ing? (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Verb-complement patterns, including verbs taking -ing, to-infinitive, or both with meaning differences