Both patterns are standard. “Advise waiting” recommends an action generally or in context, while “advise him to wait” names the person who is advised to perform it. A that-clause is another standard option.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “advise + -ing” for a recommended action without naming its performer; use “advise + person + to-infinitive” when you name the person receiving the advice.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb complement pattern
Termsadvise doing, advise someone to do
Further guidance
Clause Boundary
Advise also allows that-clauses; the choice among these patterns depends on whether the writer names the advised person and how the recommendation is framed.
Ing Pattern
Use advise + -ing to recommend an action without inserting a direct object for the person who should do it.
Object Pattern
Use advise + person + to-infinitive when the sentence names the person receiving the advice and the action advised.
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.
Cambridge documents both admit + -ing and admit to + -ing for acknowledging something. Other passive patterns such as “be admitted to be” are separate constructions.
When “afford” is followed directly by another verb, standard learner references use a to-infinitive: “afford to do.” An -ing form can appear elsewhere in a sentence, but it is not a like-for-like direct complement after “afford.”
“Agree to do” expresses consent to take an action. An -ing form normally follows a preposition in patterns such as “agree with doing,” which expresses approval rather than the direct promise-to-act construction.
Cambridge documents aim + to-infinitive for intention and aim at for directing effort toward an objective. Do not omit the preposition and present bare “aim doing” as equivalent to “aim to do.”
“Allow” can take an activity as its object, as in “allow smoking,” or a person/thing followed by a to-infinitive, as in “allow visitors to enter.” The patterns answer different structural questions: what is allowed versus who is allowed to do what.
Cambridge describes appear as a linking verb and with a to-infinitive; a progressive action can sit inside that infinitive, as in “appears to be working.” An -ing form after appear can belong to another structure or sense, so “appear doing” is not a free alternative to “appear to do.”
