Confine Yourself To Doing vs. Confine Yourself To Do
Oxford directly documents confine yourself to (doing) something for limiting the scope of an activity or subject. In this construction to is prepositional; a matching confine yourself to + bare infinitive pattern is not established by the cited authority.
Use confine yourself to + -ing when the complement is an activity.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| limit yourself to an activity | confine yourself to + -ing | Here “to” is a preposition, so an -ing form can follow. |
| limit yourself to a subject, place, or noun phrase | confine yourself to + noun phrase | Use the same prepositional construction. |
| express a separate purpose or infinitive elsewhere | to + verb may occur in another structure | Do not infer a direct “confine yourself to do” complement from the prepositional pattern. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Does “to” introduce the activity or subject you are limiting yourself to?
If yes: Use “confine yourself to” + -ing or a noun phrase.
If no: A to-infinitive may occur elsewhere for another grammatical function, but it is not the direct complement documented here.
Caveat: Choose by the documented meaning or construction; a different pattern may be valid in a different sentence structure or variety.
Examples
Please confine yourself to answering the question asked.
The -ing phrase names the activity being limited.
The report confines itself to three practical issues.
A noun phrase follows the preposition “to.”
For now, I will confine myself to checking the final section.
The activity follows prepositional “to.”
Further guidance
Boundary
In this construction to is prepositional; a matching confine yourself to + bare infinitive pattern is not established by the cited authority.
Construction
Oxford directly documents confine yourself to (doing) something for limiting the scope of an activity or subject.
Decision
Use confine yourself to + -ing when the complement is an activity.
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.
- confine (opens in a new tab)Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries · Preferred lexical authority directly documenting confine yourself to (doing) something.