Oxford directly distinguishes be set on something/on doing something for determination from be set to do something for being likely or ready to act.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
“Be set on doing” means be determined to do it; “be set to do” means be likely or ready to do it. Both are standard, but they are different constructions.
Key details
Confusion Familyverb-complement
Rule Familyverb-complementation
Termsset on doing, set to do
Further guidance
Core difference
Use set on + -ing for determination; use set + to-infinitive for the documented likely/ready sense.
Style Boundary
Because both patterns are grammatical, preserve the meaning difference rather than treating one as a correction of the other.
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 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.
