Oxford distinguishes learning a skill or action with a to-infinitive from learning through experience with “learn from doing.” The two constructions answer different questions and should not be collapsed into a direct gerund-versus-infinitive swap.
ReviewedEvidence2 sourcesSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “learn to do” for acquiring the ability or skill to perform an action. Use “learn from doing” when experience of an activity teaches you something; bare “learn doing” is not the same pattern.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb complement pattern
TermsLearn Doing, Learn To Do
Further guidance
Decision
Use learn to do for acquiring the ability to perform an action; use learn from doing when the activity is the source of a lesson.
From Pattern
In “learn from doing,” the gerund follows the preposition “from” and names the experience that teaches the lesson.
To Infinitive
Use learn + to-infinitive for acquiring a practical skill or ability.
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.
