Urge Someone To Do vs. Urge Doing
Urge + person + to-infinitive is the ordinary pattern for strongly encouraging a named person. Direct action complements such as urge + -ing are possible in more compressed or formal uses, but they do not supply the same explicit person role.
Use “urge someone to do something” when naming who is being encouraged. Use a direct action complement only where the register naturally treats the proposed action itself as what is being urged.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Context | Use | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| named person is being encouraged | urge someone to do | Use object + to-infinitive. |
| proposed action itself is urged in compressed/formal wording | urge doing | Direct -ing can occur where the action, not a named addressee, is the complement. |
| noun or that-clause is used | other urge patterns | Keep those valid constructions separate. |
Quick tests
Addressee test
Does the sentence explicitly name the person being encouraged?
If yes: Use “urge + person + to + verb.”
If no: If wording focuses on recommending the action itself, a direct action complement may occur in suitable register.
Caveat: Urge also takes noun complements and that-clauses; this comparison does not reduce all uses to two patterns.
Examples
We urged the team to review the figures again.
The named addressee takes the object + to-infinitive pattern.
The report urges reducing unnecessary delays.
The action itself is the focus in compressed formal wording.
Officials urged caution during the storm.
A noun complement is another valid urge pattern outside the binary comparison.
Further guidance
Boundary
Urge also takes noun complements such as “urge caution” and that-clauses; those patterns should not be collapsed into the two constructions compared here.
Construction
Cambridge documents urge + person + to-infinitive; grammar reference evidence also records direct -ing complements with urge in the smaller class of verbs that can recommend an action.
Decision
Prefer the object + to-infinitive pattern for a named addressee. Treat direct -ing after urge as an action-focused alternative, not as a way to attach the same person object.
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.
- urge — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Urge + person + to-infinitive and urge + action/noun complements
- A Survey of Modern English — verb complementation discussion (opens in a new tab)Zaporizhzhia National University digital library · Reference support for urge followed directly by an -ing action complement