approach to smth

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Angela Althen - 25 Nov 2004 10:21 GMT

Hello everybody!

A student recently asked about the phrase, "approach to doing smth."
Our case was, "What is your approach to dealing with this problem?"
How would you explain the use of "to" followed by an
-ing form? I was thinking of the following explanation:

"approach to" takes an object, such as "approach to the problem"
The object in this case just happens to be a gerund, which still qualifies
as a noun. Thus the -ing form. It could also be a noun phrase - "dealing
with the problem."

Do you agree with this explanation? Haven't found it in any books.

yours, Angela

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Mark Barratt - 25 Nov 2004 11:39 GMT

> Hello everybody!
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> Do you agree with this explanation? Haven't found it in any
> books.

In your sentence "What is your approach to dealing with...",
'approach to' isn't a verb, so it makes no sense to talk of it
taking an object.

In this case, 'to' is simply an ordinary preposition (not part of
an infinitive), and if a preposition is followed by a verb, the
verb will generally take the -ing form:

- He succeeded by cheating.
- She was saved from drowning.
- We despaired of waiting for them.
- They like to smoke after eating.

With 'to' as preposition:
- I prefer standing up to sitting down.
- They do everything, from sweeping the floor to mending the roof.

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Mark Barratt
Budapest
www.geocities.com/nyelvmark

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Angela Althen - 25 Nov 2004 12:16 GMT

> In your sentence "What is your approach to dealing with...",
> 'approach to' isn't a verb, so it makes no sense to talk of it
> taking an object.

Good point. I didn't see that.

> In this case, 'to' is simply an ordinary preposition (not part of
> an infinitive), and if a preposition is followed by a verb, the
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> - I prefer standing up to sitting down.
> - They do everything, from sweeping the floor to mending the roof.

Thanks. I was really barking up the wrong tree!
--Angela

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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / November 2004

approach to smth