Induce Someone To Do vs. Induce Doing
Cambridge marks the persuasion sense of induce as transitive with an object plus to-infinitive. Induce also has a separate cause sense with ordinary noun objects, so not every use of induce contains a person plus infinitive.
Use “induce someone to do something” when you mean persuade that person to act; do not substitute a bare “induce doing” complement for the same participant pattern.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| a person is persuaded or caused to act | induce + person + to-infinitive | Use “induce someone to do something.” |
| action named without the affected person | bare induce + -ing | Do not treat this as the equivalent participant pattern. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Are you naming the person who is persuaded or caused to perform the action?
If yes: Use “induce + person + to-infinitive.”
If no: Recast the sentence if no affected person is named rather than substituting bare “induce doing.”
Caveat: This guide addresses the documented complement pattern; technical senses of “induce” may use different complements.
Examples
The discount induced several customers to renew early.
The customers are the people induced to act.
The evidence induced her to reconsider the claim.
The object names the person; the infinitive names the resulting action.
Nothing could induce him to sign the form.
The documented object + to-infinitive pattern is preserved.
Further guidance
Boundary
Induce also has a separate cause sense with ordinary noun objects, so not every use of induce contains a person plus infinitive.
Construction
Cambridge marks the persuasion sense of induce as transitive with an object plus to-infinitive.
Decision
Use “induce someone to do something” when you mean persuade that person to act; do not substitute a bare “induce doing” complement for the same participant pattern.
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.
- induce someone to do something — Cambridge English Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Induce + object + to-infinitive for formal persuasion