Oxford presents the verb “attempt” with a to-infinitive or a direct noun object. Its noun entry separately documents “attempt at doing,” so “attempt doing” should not be treated as an interchangeable verb-complement alternative to “attempt to do.”
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
As a verb, use “attempt to do”: “They attempted to leave.” For an -ing form, the standard construction is commonly the noun phrase “an attempt at doing,” not bare verb + -ing.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb complement pattern
TermsAttempt Doing, Attempt To Do
Further guidance
Boundary
Do not infer from “attempt at doing” that bare verb “attempt doing” is the normal parallel to “attempt to do.”
Noun Pattern
Use an attempt at + -ing when “attempt” is a noun followed by the activity being tried.
Verb Pattern
Use attempt + to-infinitive when “attempt” is the verb meaning try to perform 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.
Cambridge documents both admit + -ing and admit to + -ing for acknowledging something. Other passive patterns such as “be admitted to be” are separate constructions.
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.
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.
