Punish Someone For Doing vs. Punish Someone To Do

Key details

Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction

Rule Familypreposition and verb-complement pattern

TermsPunish Someone For Doing, Punish Someone To Do

Choose the right form

Decision table for Punish Someone For Doing vs. Punish Someone To Do
Meaning / situation	Form / construction	Decision
name the conduct that caused a punishment	punish + person + for + -ing	Use “for” plus the activity that led to the punishment.
name the conduct with a noun rather than a verb	punish + person + for + noun	The same “for” relationship can introduce a noun phrase.
use person + to-infinitive as the parallel conduct complement	not the documented parallel pattern	Do not replace “for doing” with “to do” for this meaning.

Quick tests

Meaning / construction test

Are you naming what the person did that led to the punishment?

If yes: Use “punish someone for doing something.”

If no: If you are naming something else, choose the construction for that meaning; do not treat “punish someone to do” as the parallel complement.

Examples

Example

They punished him for ignoring the rule.

“For” plus -ing names the conduct that led to the punishment.

Example

The coach punished the players for arriving late.

The person/group is followed by “for” plus the relevant action.

Example

The rule punishes drivers for blocking the entrance.

The documented complement identifies the conduct being punished.

Further guidance

Boundary

Oxford also records “punish somebody by doing something,” where the -ing clause describes the method of punishment. That is a different relation from for + -ing, which gives the reason.

Construction

The conventional complement is punish + person + for + noun/-ing clause when the following action is the reason, conduct, or circumstance being referred to.

Decision

Use “punish someone for doing something” when naming the conduct that led to the punishment. “Punish someone to do” is not the parallel complement construction.

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.

punish — Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries · Current learner-dictionary construction showing punish somebody for something / for doing something.

Related guides

English Usage

Accuse Someone Of Doing vs. Accuse Someone To Do

Cambridge records “accuse someone of something” and specifically “accuse someone of doing something.” That supports of + -ing when the action is the alleged wrongdoing.

English Usage

Accustomed To Doing vs. Accustomed To Do

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.

English Usage

Adapt To Doing vs. Adapt To Do

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.

English Usage

Apologize For Doing vs. Apologize To Do

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.

English Usage

Approve Of Doing vs. Approve To Do

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.

English Usage

Ban Someone From Doing vs. Ban Someone To Do

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.

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