Cambridge uses participate in for the activity or event joined, and Cambridge grammar treats a verb after a preposition as an -ing form. Together these support participate in + -ing when the activity itself is verbal.
ReviewedEvidence2 sourcesSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “participate in doing” when the -ing clause names the activity you take part in. “Participate to do” is not the parallel participation complement.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familypreposition and verb-complement pattern
TermsParticipate In Doing, Participate To Do
Further guidance
Boundary
A to-infinitive can occur elsewhere to express purpose in a larger clause; this guide does not treat such a purpose adjunct as the complement selected by participate.
Construction
The participation complement uses in + noun or in + -ing when naming the activity.
Decision
Use “participate in doing” when the -ing clause names the activity you take part in. “Participate to do” is not the parallel participation complement.
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 records “accuse someone of something” and specifically “accuse someone of doing something.” That supports of + -ing when the action is the alleged wrongdoing.
Cambridge records accustomed to something and gives -ing examples such as being accustomed to working or being treated in a particular way. Do not interpret the “to” after accustomed as an infinitive marker in this construction.
Cambridge distinguishes adapt to a situation or activity from transitive patterns such as adapting plans to fit new circumstances. The surface sequence “adapt … to + verb” therefore needs its grammatical structure identified before choosing an -ing form or infinitive.
Cambridge distinguishes “apologize to someone” from “apologize for something/doing something.” You can combine the two roles, as in “apologize to someone for doing something”; “to” marks the recipient while “for” marks the reason.
Cambridge distinguishes intransitive “approve of” for a favorable opinion from transitive “approve something” for official acceptance or authorization. The official-authorization sense uses transitive “approve” with an object; do not collapse that separate sense into the “approve of doing” judgment pattern.
Oxford documents the person-action pattern as be banned + from + -ing and separately documents direct-object uses of ban. The cited evidence does not support person + to-infinitive as the equivalent prohibition construction.
