Confess To Doing vs. Confess To Do

Key details

Confusion Familyverb complement choice

Rule Familyverb complement licensing

TermsConfess To Doing, Confess To Do

Choose the right form

Decision table for Confess To Doing vs. Confess To Do
Meaning / situation	Form / construction	Decision
admit an action	confess to + -ing	Use the prepositional “to” construction with -ing.
admit a noun or fact framed as a noun phrase	confess to + noun phrase	Use the same prepositional construction.

Quick tests

Meaning / construction test

Are you naming the action that is being admitted after “confess to”?

If yes: Use “confess to” + -ing.

If no: Do not read this “to” as an infinitive marker; other constructions with “confess” have their own syntax.

Caveat: Choose by the documented meaning or construction; a different pattern may be valid in a different sentence structure.

Examples

Example

She confessed to deleting the file.

The -ing form names the admitted action.

Example

He confessed to the mistake.

A noun phrase can follow the preposition.

Example

They confessed to changing the figures after the review began.

The action admitted follows “to” as an -ing phrase.

Further guidance

Boundary

Do not manufacture a parallel confess to + bare infinitive rule from the spelling of to; other uses of confess have their own syntax.

Construction

Oxford documents confess to + noun/-ing, including confess to doing something; the to here belongs to the prepositional construction.

Decision

Use confess to + -ing when naming the action admitted in this 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.

confess (opens in a new tab)Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries · Preferred lexical authority directly documenting confess to (doing) something.

Related guides

English Usage

Accustom Yourself To Doing vs. Accustom Yourself To Do

Cambridge directly gives accustom yourself to followed by an -ing form for becoming familiar with new conditions. The to belongs to the prepositional construction accustom yourself to something; do not infer an equivalent to-infinitive from the surface word to.

English Usage

Apply Yourself To Doing vs. Apply Yourself To Do

Oxford documents apply yourself to (doing) something for working hard and attentively at a task. This apply-yourself construction takes prepositional to; other senses of apply use different complements and should not be merged into this pattern.

English Usage

Be Busy Doing vs. Busy To Do

Cambridge directly documents busy + -ing for being occupied with an activity, and separately documents too busy to do something. Busy doing and too busy to do are different constructions with different meanings. Do not treat bare busy to do as a direct alternative to busy doing.

English Usage

Be Capable Of Doing vs. Capable To Do

Cambridge directly documents capable of something/doing something for having the ability, power, or qualities needed to do something. The documented adjective complement is capable of + noun or -ing form; do not replace the prepositional complement with capable to + infinitive on the basis of meaning alone.

English Usage

Be Good At Doing vs. Good To Do

Cambridge directly documents be good at something/doing something for being skilled or successful at an activity. Good to + infinitive can occur in other constructions and meanings, but it is not a substitute for the documented skill construction be good at + -ing.

English Usage

Be Reduced To Doing vs. Be Reduced To Do

Oxford directly documents reduce somebody/something to (doing) something, usually in the passive, for being forced into a worse state or action. Here to introduces the resulting state or activity; the authority does not establish an equivalent be reduced to + bare infinitive pattern.

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Grammar Verb Forms