Feel Up To Doing vs. Feel Up To Do

Key details

Confusion Familyverb complement choice

Rule Familyverb complement licensing

TermsFeel Up To Doing, Feel Up To Do

Choose the right form

Decision table for Feel Up To Doing vs. Feel Up To Do
Meaning / situation	Form / construction	Decision
have enough strength, energy, or willingness for an activity	feel up to + -ing / noun	Use “feel up to doing” or “feel up to” + noun.
attempted equivalent with to-infinitive	feel up to + to-infinitive	Do not substitute this for the established construction.

Quick tests

Meaning / construction test

Does “feel up to” mean that someone has enough energy or readiness for the following activity?

If yes: Use an -ing form after “to.”

If no: If “to” belongs to a different construction, parse that structure separately rather than treating it as this idiom.

Caveat: In this idiom, “to” functions as a preposition, which is why an -ing form can follow it.

Examples

Example

I don’t feel up to driving tonight.

Here “to” is a preposition and is followed by an -ing form.

Example

Do you feel up to a short walk?

A noun phrase can also follow the preposition.

Example

She finally felt up to answering the messages.

The activity is expressed with an -ing form.

Further guidance

Boundary

In feel up to, to is part of the prepositional expression up to; the cited pattern does not license feel up to + bare infinitive.

Construction

Oxford directly documents feel up to doing something for having the strength or energy to undertake an activity.

Decision

Use feel up to + -ing when saying you have enough strength or energy for 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.

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

Explore the topic

Grammar Verb Forms