Oxford documents go + -ing for activities such as “go swimming.” A to-infinitive can express purpose in a larger sentence, but it should not be treated as an interchangeable replacement for the established go + activity pattern.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
For the ordinary activity expression, use “go swimming.” “Go to swim” is not the same go + activity construction and needs a separate purpose context if used.
Key details
Confusion Familyverb-complement
Rule Familyverb-complementation
Termsgo swimming, go to swim
Further guidance
Core difference
Use go + -ing for the conventional activity construction: go swimming.
Style Boundary
Do not infer that every go + -ing activity has a freely interchangeable go + to-infinitive form; a to-infinitive can instead belong to a separate purpose 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 directly records amazed + to-infinitive and amazed at + complement, making it an evidence-safe replacement for the unsupported Satisfied proposal.
Oxford directly records both ashamed + to-infinitive and ashamed of + noun/pronoun. The guide compares those attested structures without inventing an unsupported parallel complement.
Oxford directly documents averse to (doing) something. This is a prepositional to + noun/-ing construction, so a bare infinitive should not be assumed to be an interchangeable complement.
Oxford documents the idiomatic adjective pattern bent on (doing) something for determination. The evidence does not license a parallel bent + to-infinitive complement for that same meaning.
