Blame Someone For Doing vs. Blame Someone To Do

Key details

Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction

Rule Familypreposition and verb-complement pattern

TermsBlame Someone For Doing, Blame Someone To Do

Choose the right form

Decision table for Blame Someone For Doing vs. Blame Someone To Do
Meaning / situation	Construction	Decision
hold a person responsible for an action	blame + person + for + -ing	use “for + -ing”
assign something as the cause or responsibility	blame + thing + on + person/thing	a different documented frame
proposed infinitive complement	blame + person + to-infinitive	do not use as the parallel action complement

Quick tests

Responsibility-frame test

Are you naming the action for which a person is blamed?

If yes: Use “blame someone for doing something.”

If no: If you are assigning a cause with “blame X on Y,” use that separate frame instead.

Caveat: The alternative “blame X on Y” does not license “blame someone to do.”

Examples

Example

They blamed the vendor for missing the deadline.

“For + -ing” names the action being blamed.

Example

They blamed the delay on a failed shipment.

This uses the separate “blame X on Y” frame.

Incorrect

They blamed the vendor to miss the deadline.

Better: They blamed the vendor for missing the deadline.

Use “blamed the vendor for missing the deadline.”

Further guidance

Boundary

Blame also has the pattern blame something on someone. That alternative assigns responsibility in a different syntactic frame; it does not make blame someone to do a standard complement.

Construction

The conventional complement is blame + person + for + noun/-ing clause when the following action is the reason, conduct, or circumstance being referred to.

Decision

Use “blame someone for doing something” when naming the action for which the person is held responsible. “Blame someone to do” is not the parallel complement construction.

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.

blame — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Current dictionary evidence for blame someone for something, including -ing complements in examples and usage.

Related guides

English Usage

Accuse Someone Of Doing vs. Accuse Someone To Do

Cambridge records “accuse someone of something” and specifically “accuse someone of doing something.” That supports of + -ing when the action is the alleged wrongdoing.

English Usage

Accustomed To Doing vs. Accustomed To Do

Cambridge records accustomed to something and gives -ing examples such as being accustomed to working or being treated in a particular way. Do not interpret the “to” after accustomed as an infinitive marker in this construction.

English Usage

Adapt To Doing vs. Adapt To Do

Cambridge distinguishes adapt to a situation or activity from transitive patterns such as adapting plans to fit new circumstances. The surface sequence “adapt … to + verb” therefore needs its grammatical structure identified before choosing an -ing form or infinitive.

English Usage

Apologize For Doing vs. Apologize To Do

Cambridge distinguishes “apologize to someone” from “apologize for something/doing something.” You can combine the two roles, as in “apologize to someone for doing something”; “to” marks the recipient while “for” marks the reason.

English Usage

Approve Of Doing vs. Approve To Do

Cambridge distinguishes intransitive “approve of” for a favorable opinion from transitive “approve something” for official acceptance or authorization. The official-authorization sense uses transitive “approve” with an object; do not collapse that separate sense into the “approve of doing” judgment pattern.

English Usage

Ban Someone From Doing vs. Ban Someone To Do

Oxford documents the person-action pattern as be banned + from + -ing and separately documents direct-object uses of ban. The cited evidence does not support person + to-infinitive as the equivalent prohibition construction.

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