English UsageComparison guide

Reconcile Yourself To Doing vs. Reconcile Yourself To Do

Cambridge directly illustrates reconcile yourself to followed by an -ing clause when accepting an unwelcome situation. Here to is the preposition in reconcile yourself to something; the evidence does not license a parallel reconcile yourself to + bare infinitive pattern.

Quick answer

Use reconcile yourself to + -ing when the complement names the situation or activity being accepted.

Key details

Confusion Familyverb complement choice
Rule Familyverb complement licensing
TermsReconcile Yourself To Doing, Reconcile Yourself To Do

Further guidance

Boundary

Here to is the preposition in reconcile yourself to something; the evidence does not license a parallel reconcile yourself to + bare infinitive pattern.

Construction

Cambridge directly illustrates reconcile yourself to followed by an -ing clause when accepting an unwelcome situation.

Decision

Use reconcile yourself to + -ing when the complement names the situation or activity being accepted.

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.

  1. reconcile yourself to sth — Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Preferred lexical authority directly documenting reconcile yourself to + -ing in an example.

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Cambridge directly gives accustom yourself to followed by an -ing form for becoming familiar with new conditions. The to belongs to the prepositional construction accustom yourself to something; do not infer an equivalent to-infinitive from the surface word to.

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Oxford documents apply yourself to (doing) something for working hard and attentively at a task. This apply-yourself construction takes prepositional to; other senses of apply use different complements and should not be merged into this pattern.

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Cambridge directly documents busy + -ing for being occupied with an activity, and separately documents too busy to do something. Busy doing and too busy to do are different constructions with different meanings. Do not treat bare busy to do as a direct alternative to busy doing.

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Be Capable Of Doing vs. Capable To Do

Cambridge directly documents capable of something/doing something for having the ability, power, or qualities needed to do something. The documented adjective complement is capable of + noun or -ing form; do not replace the prepositional complement with capable to + infinitive on the basis of meaning alone.

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Be Good At Doing vs. Good To Do

Cambridge directly documents be good at something/doing something for being skilled or successful at an activity. Good to + infinitive can occur in other constructions and meanings, but it is not a substitute for the documented skill construction be good at + -ing.

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Be Reduced To Doing vs. Be Reduced To Do

Oxford directly documents reduce somebody/something to (doing) something, usually in the passive, for being forced into a worse state or action. Here to introduces the resulting state or activity; the authority does not establish an equivalent be reduced to + bare infinitive pattern.

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