EX. I look forward to talking to you on Friday afternoon.

　　例句：我期待下周五与你的谈话。

　　As the example above shows, sometimes it is correct to use “to” plus the –ing form of a verb.

　　从例句里我们可以看到，有时“to”也可以加动词-ing形式。

　　Many non-native English speakers are reluctant to use –ing after “to”. Maybe this is because you learnt at school that after “to” a verb should always be in the infinitive.

　　许多非英语国家的人都不喜欢在“to”后面加动词-ing形式。这可能是因为你们学校里的老师告诉你们“to”后面一般都跟动词不定式。

　　This is only half true. “To” actually has two uses – EITHER as an infinitive marker (e.g. The Company wishes to purchase the shares), OR as a preposition (e.g. He has gone to lunch).

　　其实不然。事实上“to”有两种用法，一种是动词不定式的标志（比如：这家公司想要收购股份。），另一种，用作介词。（比如：他去吃饭了。）

　　When “to” acts as a preposition it is usually followed by an –ing form (which in this case is a gerund) or a noun/noun phrase, as in these examples:

　　当“to”作介词时，后面通常会跟着动词-ing形式（动名词）或者名词/名词词组，比如：

　　EX1. There is no obstacle to registering the company.

　　EX2. There is no obstacle to the registration of the company.

　　例句：注册这家公司没有困难。

　　EX1. I do not recommend committing yourself to purchasing the shares yet.

　　EX2. I do not recommend committing yourself to the purchase of the shares yet.

　　例句：我现在还不建议你去收购那些股份。

　　EX1. I look forward to hearing from you.

　　EX2. I look forward to your reply.

　　例句：我期待你的回复。

　　There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. The next post looks at these.

　　当然，“to”加动词-ing也有例外的时候。敬请期待下次更新。