Be Good At Doing vs. Good To Do

Key details

Confusion Familyverb complement choice

Rule Familyverb complement licensing

TermsBe Good At Doing, Good To Do

Choose the right form

Decision table for Be Good At Doing vs. Good To Do
Meaning / situation	Construction	Decision
skill or success in an activity	be good at + -ing	use the documented skill construction
a different “good + to-infinitive” meaning or sentence structure	good to + verb	do not use it as a substitute for the skill construction

Quick tests

Skill test

Are you saying that someone has skill or succeeds in an activity?

If yes: Use “be good at + -ing.”

If no: If “good to + verb” is intended, check the separate meaning of the whole sentence rather than treating it as the skill pattern.

Caveat: The guide does not claim that “good to + verb” is globally wrong; it is not the documented replacement for “good at doing” when skill is meant.

Examples

Example

She is good at explaining complex rules.

“Good at + -ing” describes skill in the activity.

Example

It is good to check the figures twice.

Here “good to check” evaluates an action; it does not mean someone is skilled at checking.

Example

He is good at writing summaries.

The gerund phrase names the activity in which he is skilled.

Further guidance

Boundary

Good to + infinitive can occur in other constructions and meanings, but it is not a substitute for the documented skill construction be good at + -ing.

Construction

Cambridge directly documents be good at something/doing something for being skilled or successful at an activity.

Decision

Use be good at + -ing when describing skill or success in an activity.

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.

good at (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press & Assessment · Preferred lexical authority directly documenting good at something/doing something.

Related guides

English Usage

Accustom Yourself To Doing vs. Accustom Yourself To Do

Cambridge directly gives accustom yourself to followed by an -ing form for becoming familiar with new conditions. The to belongs to the prepositional construction accustom yourself to something; do not infer an equivalent to-infinitive from the surface word to.

English Usage

Apply Yourself To Doing vs. Apply Yourself To Do

Oxford documents apply yourself to (doing) something for working hard and attentively at a task. This apply-yourself construction takes prepositional to; other senses of apply use different complements and should not be merged into this pattern.

English Usage

Be Busy Doing vs. Busy To Do

Cambridge directly documents busy + -ing for being occupied with an activity, and separately documents too busy to do something. Busy doing and too busy to do are different constructions with different meanings. Do not treat bare busy to do as a direct alternative to busy doing.

English Usage

Be Capable Of Doing vs. Capable To Do

Cambridge directly documents capable of something/doing something for having the ability, power, or qualities needed to do something. The documented adjective complement is capable of + noun or -ing form; do not replace the prepositional complement with capable to + infinitive on the basis of meaning alone.

English Usage

Be Reduced To Doing vs. Be Reduced To Do

Oxford directly documents reduce somebody/something to (doing) something, usually in the passive, for being forced into a worse state or action. Here to introduces the resulting state or activity; the authority does not establish an equivalent be reduced to + bare infinitive pattern.

English Usage

Be Skilled At Doing vs. Skilled To Do

Cambridge directly documents be skilled at/in doing something for having developed ability in an activity. The preferred-source construction uses a preposition before the -ing form; do not infer skilled to + infinitive as a parallel complement solely from the adjective’s meaning.

Explore the topic

Grammar Verb Forms