Cambridge documents UK fancy + -ing for wanting to do something, while a separate prediction/preference sense can appear with an object followed by a to-infinitive, as in choosing who is expected to win. The to-infinitive pattern belongs to a different syntactic/meaning frame and is not a direct replacement for “fancy doing” in the want-to-do sense.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “fancy doing” when fancy means want or feel like doing an activity; do not treat every “fancy … to do” sequence as the same construction.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb complement pattern
TermsFancy Doing, Fancy To Do
Further guidance
Boundary
The to-infinitive pattern belongs to a different syntactic/meaning frame and is not a direct replacement for “fancy doing” in the want-to-do sense.
Construction
Cambridge documents UK fancy + -ing for wanting to do something, while a separate prediction/preference sense can appear with an object followed by a to-infinitive, as in choosing who is expected to win.
Decision
Use “fancy doing” when fancy means want or feel like doing an activity; do not treat every “fancy … to do” sequence as the same 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.
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.
