Cambridge directly records glad + to-infinitive and glad about + noun/event, so the guide contrasts those documented structures rather than inferring a new complement.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “glad to do something” when glad is followed by an infinitive action. Use “glad about something” when the complement names the situation or event that produces the positive feeling.
Key details
Confusion Familyverb-complement
Rule Familyverb-complementation
Termsglad to do, glad about something
Further guidance
Core difference
Cambridge documents glad + to-infinitive and glad about + noun/event as standard complement patterns.
Style Boundary
Do not treat to and about as interchangeable markers: to introduces an infinitive, while about introduces the matter or event.
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.
Glad↗ (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Direct learner-dictionary evidence for glad about + noun/event and glad + to-infinitive.
Cambridge directly records amazed + to-infinitive and amazed at + complement, making it an evidence-safe replacement for the unsupported Satisfied proposal.
Oxford directly records both ashamed + to-infinitive and ashamed of + noun/pronoun. The guide compares those attested structures without inventing an unsupported parallel complement.
Oxford directly documents averse to (doing) something. This is a prepositional to + noun/-ing construction, so a bare infinitive should not be assumed to be an interchangeable complement.
Oxford documents the idiomatic adjective pattern bent on (doing) something for determination. The evidence does not license a parallel bent + to-infinitive complement for that same meaning.
