dedicated to doing vs. dedicated to do

sus4

sus4

Senior Member
Japan - Japanese
Hi,

According to one of the dictionaries I own, "dedicated to" cannot be followed by the original form of a verb; it must be followed by a noun, pronoun, or gerund, because "to" here is not a to-infinitive. However, I came across so many sentences using "dedicated to be" and "dedicated to do" on the Internet.

Could anyone explain this to me? Is it grammatically correct to use "dedicated to do..."?

Thanks!
 
    • Hi, sus4! I wouldn't use the internet as your source of gramatically correct English. You will find so many errors! I would not say "I am dedicated to do...". It is not correct.

    Some ways you could use this phrase:
    I am dedicated to my husband.
    I am dedicated to making this world a better place.
     
    sus4 said:
    Hi,

    According to one of the dictionaries I own, "dedicated to" cannot be followed by the original form of a verb; it must be followed by a noun, pronoun, or gerund, because "to" here is not a to-infinitive. However, I came across so many sentences using "dedicated to be" and "dedicated to do" on the Internet.

    Could anyone explain this to me? Is it grammatically correct to use "dedicated to do..."?

    Thanks!
    Click to expand...

    I found only four examples in the British National Corpus (BNC):

    "the ultimate in designer resorts, one enormous pleasure garden dedicated to give as much as possible to as many as"

    "One needs to be dedicated to play rugby nowadays",

    "The America First Committee was formed, dedicated to keep the nation out of the war and opposed to"

    "a non-ideological, non-denominational, profit-making organization dedicated to bring together people from many different "
     
    Hi joylolade, thanks for your help! I got confused because some of the sources I referred to were newspapers, government Web sites, and such.


    Thanks M56! I didn't know of the British National Corpus. This seems like a great resource.
     
    I would have preferred the -ing form on those examples except for this one:

    "One needs to be dedicated to play rugby nowadays", This one is correct, because dedicated is an adjective here, not a verb:
    One needs to be dedicated in order to play rugby.
     
    sus4 said:
    Hi joylolade, thanks for your help! I got confused because some of the sources I referred to were newspapers, government Web sites, and such.


    Thanks M56! I didn't know of the British National Corpus. This seems like a great resource.
    Click to expand...

    It is. Here's a link to it:

    http://view.byu.edu/

    If you need help using it, just ask.
     
    Kelly B said:
    I would have preferred the -ing form on those examples except for this one:

    "One needs to be dedicated to play rugby nowadays", This one is correct, because dedicated is an adjective here, not a verb:
    One needs to be dedicated in order to play rugby.
    Click to expand...

    Yes, me too.
     
    Sorry, but I´m afraid I don´t get the adjective/verb difference.

    One needs to be dedicated to breed a child
    Right now I´m dedicated to breeding my child

    Are they correct? Is that what you tried to explain? Thanks.
     
    Are they correct? Is that what you tried to explain?
    Click to expand...

    Syntactically, those sentences are correct; they reflect what has been said above. Semantically, you may want to have another look at them. (As for 'to breed a child', see this thread.)

    Sorry, but I´m afraid I don´t get the adjective/verb difference.
    Click to expand...

    The difference between

    a) One needs to be dedicated to play rugby nowadays. (correct)
    b) The committee was dedicated to keep the nation out of the war. (incorrect)

    is that in a) 'to' is a preposition with the meaning 'in order to', whereas in b) 'to' is the particle of the infinitive 'to keep'. If we recast, the difference becomes more apparent:

    a) To play rugby nowadays, one needs to be dedicated. (correct)
    b) To keep the nation out of the war, the committee was dedicated. (incorrect)
     
    One needs to be dedicated (in order) to raise a child.
    Right now I'm dedicated to raising my child.

    "To breed" is usually used in regard to animals when you want them to reproduce. They earn their living by breeding horses.
     
    Well, I really had in mind the action that a woman does with her baby when he/she is hungry. How would you call it then?

    Estjarn, thanks for the explanation, it´s much more clearer now.
     
    I'm sure this belongs in a different thread, but "to nurture" is a wide term that includes feeding and encouraging growth and development. In humans, nurturing is both physical and psychological. You can nurture plants, animals or anything that grows - even a new business.

    Does that work?
     
    ride7359 said:
    I'm sure this belongs in a different thread, but "to nurture" is a wide term that includes feeding and encouraging growth and development. In humans, nurturing is both physical and psychological. You can nurture plants, animals or anything that grows - even a new business.

    Does that work?
    Click to expand...

    According to Wordreference, it seems it´s "to breast-feed" the verb I had in mind when I wrote the sentence, but you´re right, it belongs in a different thread. Thanks for your help :).
     
    1. I am determined and dedicated to continually improve my English.
    2. I am determined and dedicated in order to continually improve my English.
    3. I am determined and dedicated to continually improving my English.

    Which one is correct? :confused: Thank you :)
     
    Last edited:
    PureLand said:
    1. I am determined and dedicated to continually improve my English.
    2. I am determined and dedicated in order to continually improve my English.
    3. I am determined and dedicated to continually improving my English.

    Which one is correct? :confused: Thank you :)
    Click to expand...
    Only (3) works for me there.

    I'd mark the other two as wrong.
     
    I am determined, and dedicated to continually improving my English.

    The comma is needed because we can be "determined to do" something, but not to "doing" something.
     
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