Oxford documents both stand doing something and stand to do something, including paired tolerate/dislike examples such as not being able to stand hearing or to hear something. The two patterns often overlap, but idiomatic preference can vary by following verb and variety; avoid inventing a rigid universal meaning split.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Both “can’t stand doing” and “can’t stand to do” can be grammatical in the tolerate/dislike sense; choose the form that sounds natural for the verb and context rather than treating one as universally wrong.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb complement pattern
TermsCan't Stand Doing, Can't Stand To Do
Further guidance
Boundary
The two patterns often overlap, but idiomatic preference can vary by following verb and variety; avoid inventing a rigid universal meaning split.
Construction
Oxford documents both stand doing something and stand to do something, including paired tolerate/dislike examples such as not being able to stand hearing or to hear something.
Decision
Both “can’t stand doing” and “can’t stand to do” can be grammatical in the tolerate/dislike sense; choose the form that sounds natural for the verb and context rather than treating one as universally wrong.
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 documents both admit + -ing and admit to + -ing for acknowledging something. Other passive patterns such as “be admitted to be” are separate constructions.
Both patterns are standard. “Advise waiting” recommends an action generally or in context, while “advise him to wait” names the person who is advised to perform it. A that-clause is another standard option.
When “afford” is followed directly by another verb, standard learner references use a to-infinitive: “afford to do.” An -ing form can appear elsewhere in a sentence, but it is not a like-for-like direct complement after “afford.”
“Agree to do” expresses consent to take an action. An -ing form normally follows a preposition in patterns such as “agree with doing,” which expresses approval rather than the direct promise-to-act construction.
Cambridge documents aim + to-infinitive for intention and aim at for directing effort toward an objective. Do not omit the preposition and present bare “aim doing” as equivalent to “aim to do.”
“Allow” can take an activity as its object, as in “allow smoking,” or a person/thing followed by a to-infinitive, as in “allow visitors to enter.” The patterns answer different structural questions: what is allowed versus who is allowed to do what.
