Believe In Doing vs. Believe To Do
Cambridge documents “believe in something/doing something” for confidence that a practice or action is right or effective. Believe also has other constructions, such as “believe that …” and formal object-complement patterns; this guide covers the “believe in” value/effectiveness sense.
Use “believe in doing” when you mean think an action or practice is right, effective, or worthwhile; bare “believe to do” is not the parallel pattern.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| supporting or regarding an action/practice as worthwhile or right | believe in + -ing | use “believe in doing” |
| a bare to-infinitive proposed directly after believe | believe + to-infinitive | do not use it as the parallel pattern |
Quick tests
Practice-or-proposition test
Do you mean that a practice or action is worthwhile or appropriate?
If yes: Use “believe in + -ing.”
If no: If you mean that a proposition is true, use a clause or another documented “believe” construction instead of bare “believe to do.”
Caveat: Constructions such as “believe someone to be …” are structurally different and are not the bare “believe to do” pattern compared here.
Examples
We believe in checking the data before publication.
“Believe in + -ing” expresses support for the practice.
She believes that the figures are accurate.
A that-clause expresses belief in a proposition.
We believe to check the data before publication.
Better: We believe in checking the data before publication.
For support for a practice, use “believe in checking.”
Further guidance
Boundary
Believe also has other constructions, such as “believe that …” and formal object-complement patterns; this guide covers the “believe in” value/effectiveness sense.
Construction
Cambridge documents “believe in something/doing something” for confidence that a practice or action is right or effective.
Decision
Use “believe in doing” when you mean think an action or practice is right, effective, or worthwhile; bare “believe to do” is not the parallel pattern.
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.
- believe in something — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Believe in something/doing something is documented for confidence that an action, idea, or practice is right or effective.