Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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 Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:59 am Post subject: Re: gerund vs. infinitive |
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| el7jake wrote: |
| In the following sentence: "if instititutions are a key for understanding irrigation performance, what is the linkage between institutions and performance?" Is it possible to use "to understand" instead of "for understanding"? Why or why not? |
I'm going to throw you a curve, so apologies if this gets complicated.
You cannot use "to understand" but you can use "to understanding".
???
"But wait!" you say, "you cannot use to + gerund form!"
Normally, yes. The "to" used in an infinitive is part of the verb. But in this case, "to" or "for" (in the original sentence) are prepositions used in an adjective prepositional phrase modifying "key", and "understanding" is a gerund noun used as the object of the preposition. For example, you could say:
His friendly personality was the key to opening her heart.
"To opening her heart" is a prepositional phrase modifying "key".
So, if you wanted to replace "understanding" with "to understand" in the original sentence, it would say:
If institutions are a key for to understand irrigation performance, what...
and that definitely sounds awkward and is bad grammar. It is generally a bad idea to use an infinitive as an object of a preposition. |
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