"Committed to supporting X" vs. "committed to support X"

Question

I'm trying to edit a speech and found a commonly used phase which I'm not sure if I should amend it or not. The sentence goes like this:

[a subject] is committed to supporting [a project].

Should I amend it to the following?

[a subject] is committed to support [a project].

Is the original version fine? Does the meaning change if I amend it?

@MετάEd The Q seems to be vs <-ing form> -- that should be okay on ELU I suppose. — Kris, May 10 '13 at 11:56
It seems you need a noun/gerund/<-ing form> (therefore, supporting) in the example sentence, not a verb (support). Though support can also be a verb, that sense cannot be invoked in the example sentence. Let's wait and see what the other learned members have to say. — Kris, May 10 '13 at 11:59
Apparent duplicate of Does "feel committed to" require an infinitive or gerund complement?. — tchrist, May 10 '13 at 23:15

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 10 '13 at 10:48

1

'Supporting' suggests the commitment is ongoing and long-term. 'Support' suggests the support is a one-time, temporary thing. I would go with supporting.

answered May 10 '13 at 10:48

ElendilTheTall

3,921

That's about what the sentence might mean in each case, not the grammar. – Kris May 10 '13 at 12:01

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 11 '13 at 01:31

0

"Supporting" for the reasons given in Kris's comment.

edited May 11 '13 at 01:31

RegDwigнt

97,231

answered May 10 '13 at 22:29

TrevorD

12,206

Welcome, Trevor! There is no need to add another answer that agrees with the existing ones, unless you have additional information or references. If you agree with another answer, you can upvote it and comment underneath it. You can also upvote comments that you agree with. – aedia λ May 11 '13 at 00:45
@aedia Apologies if I've got the etiquette wrong: I'm a little confused about the difference between Answers & Comments. For example, there is a menu link for 'Unanswered' questions, but on looking through those, it appears that several of them have actually been answered in the Comments but (I assume) still appear in the list because there is no 'actual' answer under 'Answers'. Also I thought that some users might read ONLY the 'Answers' and not the comments: as I thought that this answer was more apposite than the only actual 'Answer' then listed, I wanted to 'promote' it. Contd... – TrevorD May 11 '13 at 13:53
@aedia ...Cont'd. I realise that this is probably not the right place for this discussion, but am not yet familiar enough with the site to know where is (and haven't yet has a chance to read all the FAQs). So please move it elsewhere if appropriate and let me know where. Thanks. – TrevorD May 11 '13 at 13:56
Not seen you around in ages. Let us know everything is O.K. – Mari-Lou A Dec 13 '13 at 23:29

"Committed to supporting X" vs. "committed to support X"

2 Answers2