In the success sense, “manage” takes a to-infinitive: “manage to do.” The verb also has a different transitive sense meaning to control, organize or cope with something, which should not be confused with a gerund alternative.
ReviewedEvidence2 sourcesSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “manage to do” when you mean succeed in doing something difficult. “Manage” can also take an object in its separate control/organize sense, but direct “manage doing” is not the equivalent success pattern.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb complement pattern
TermsManage Doing, Manage To Do
Further guidance
Decision
If the intended meaning is “succeed in doing,” use manage to do.
Object Boundary
Manage can take a noun object in its control, organize or cope-with sense; that separate transitive use does not create a direct manage + -ing alternative to the success pattern.
Success Pattern
Use manage + to-infinitive when the meaning is succeeding in performing an action, especially despite difficulty.
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.
