The word ( to )
This word often causes confusion as it can be either (A) a
part of an infinitive, or (B) a preposition.
(A) a part of an infinitive
( to ) placed after the auxiliary verbs be, have, ought, used
and after ' going (in expressions such as'the be going to form') is part of the
infinitive of the following verb and is only added to remind students that the
preceding verb takes the full infinitive, i.e. the infinitive with to.
(to) is
often placed after hate, hope, intend, would like/love, mean, plan, try, want
and some others to avoid repetition of an infinitive already
mentioned:
~ Did you buy cheese?
~ No, I meant to (buy some) but the shop
was shut.
(B) a preposition.
( to ) placed after a verb will probably be a
preposition and will be followed by noun/pronoun or gerund. Note these
expressions: look forward to, take to, be accustomed to. be used to:
I am looking forward to my holidays/to next weekend/to it.
I am looking forward to seeing you.
I am used to heat/hard work/bad food/noise/dust.
I am used to standing in queues/to it.
Be careful not to
confuse I used to/he used to etc., which expresses a past habit or routine
(They used to bum coal; now they bum fuel oil only), with I am used to/he is
used to etc., which means '1 am/he is accustomed to/familiar with':
I am used to the cold. (It doesn't worry me.)
He is used to working at night. (He doesn't mind it.)
A good way of finding out whether a to is a preposition or a part of an
infinitive is to see if it is possible to put a noun/pronoun after it. For
example a noun/pronoun could be placed after I am accustomed to:
I am accustomed to it/the dark.
This to therefore is a
preposition, and verbs used after to must be gerunds.
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