Cambridge records persist in + -ing for continuing an action despite difficulty or opposition. The preposition in governs the following -ing form in this construction, so “persist to do” should not be substituted as its direct parallel.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “persist in doing” when you mean continue doing something despite difficulty or opposition. “Persist to do” is not the parallel complement pattern.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familypreposition and verb-complement pattern
TermsPersist In Doing, Persist To Do
Further guidance
Boundary
This guide compares the action-complement pattern only. A to-infinitive elsewhere in a larger sentence can have another role and is not automatically governed by persist.
Construction
The established action complement is persist in + -ing; persist can also appear without that complement when the continued action is supplied by context.
Decision
Use “persist in doing” when you mean continue doing something despite difficulty or opposition. “Persist to do” is not the parallel complement 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.
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.
