Cambridge directly records prepared + to-infinitive and prepared for + noun/event.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “prepared to do something” for willingness or readiness to take an action. Use “prepared for something” when the complement names the situation, event, or thing being anticipated.
Key details
Confusion Familyverb-complement
Rule Familyverb-complementation
Termsprepared to do, prepared for something
Further guidance
Core difference
Cambridge documents be prepared to do something and prepared for + noun/event as standard patterns.
Style Boundary
Prepared to do often expresses willingness/readiness to act; prepared for introduces the event, situation, or thing one is ready to face.
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.
Prepared↗ (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Direct learner-dictionary evidence for prepared + to-infinitive and prepared for + noun/event.
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.
