When avoid is followed directly by another verb, standard usage uses the -ing form: “avoid making,” “avoid using,” and similar patterns. A direct “avoid to do” construction is not the reviewed pattern.
ReviewedEvidence2 sourcesSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “avoid doing,” not “avoid to do,” when avoid is followed directly by another verb. Cambridge explicitly gives the -ing pattern and rejects the direct to-infinitive pattern.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb complement pattern
TermsAvoid Doing, Avoid To Do
Further guidance
Boundary
A to-infinitive can appear elsewhere in a sentence for another purpose, but it is not the direct complement pattern after avoid.
Construction
Cambridge’s grammar guidance says that when avoid is followed by a verb, that verb takes the -ing form.
Decision
Choose “avoid doing” for a direct verb complement; do not substitute “avoid to do.”
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.
