Enable can make a person or thing able to act, commonly with object + to-infinitive, or make an activity/result possible by taking a noun-like object. These patterns differ in whether the enabled participant or the enabled activity is expressed as the object.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “enable someone to do something” when naming who gains the ability. An -ing activity can be noun-like after enable when the activity itself is what becomes possible.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb-complement and object pattern
TermsEnable Someone To Do, Enable Doing
Further guidance
Boundary
A noun-like -ing activity after enable does not supply the same person-object structure as “enable someone to …”.
Construction
Cambridge documents enable + object + to-infinitive and also enable + noun/object for making something possible.
Decision
Name the participant before a to-infinitive when who is enabled matters; use an activity/result object when the thing made possible is the focus.
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.
Oxford directly documents “argue somebody into doing something” for persuading somebody by giving reasons. The cited construction evidence directly supports into + -ing; it does not license “argue someone to do” as an equivalent complement pattern.
When ask means request an action from a person, Cambridge documents ask + person + to-infinitive. Bare “ask doing” is not the ordinary request complement for that meaning.
Cambridge directly documents both badger + object + into + -ing and badger + object + to-infinitive for repeated pressure or requests that push someone toward an action. The verb also covers repeated questioning, so context must show whether the sentence is about persistent persuasion or interrogation rather than assuming every use names a requested action.
Cambridge directly illustrates bamboozle + object + into + -ing for deceiving someone so that the person takes an action. The cited entry does not establish bamboozle + object + to-infinitive as an equally documented alternative, so this guide does not manufacture a two-way rule.
Cambridge explicitly documents beg + object + to-infinitive for an urgent request and also records beg for + noun and other request patterns. A following -ing form may appear elsewhere in a sentence, but it is not the ordinary replacement for the documented object + to-infinitive request construction.
Cambridge gives direct evidence for beguile someone into doing something in the literary persuade/attract/deceive sense. The cited entry supports the into + -ing construction; it does not establish beguile + object + to-infinitive as an equivalent pattern for this meaning.
