Which is correct: "To believe this is committing a fallacy" or "To believe this is to commit a fallacy"?

Question

Context: "When a conditional expression and its consequent are both true, one cannot automatically infer its antecedent. To believe the contrary is committing/to commit a fallacy known as affirming the consequent".

Edit: I changed "incurring/to incur" to "committing/to commit", but I'm still hearing proposals...

Both constructions seem highly improbable, could you give us context to work with? — Jiminy Cricket., Apr 03 '20 at 13:09
If you were to remove the word "in" either construction seems sound to me, but wait for someone to give a propper answer though. — Jiminy Cricket., Apr 03 '20 at 13:16
It probably should be to commit* a fallacy. Google has 10 times as many hits for commit a fallacy* as for incur a fallacy (and incur in a fallacy is clearly wrong). — Peter Shor, Apr 03 '20 at 13:16
@PeterShor Thanks, Peter, so, "to "commit", not "committing", right? — Philosopher of science, Apr 03 '20 at 13:19
Both "to commit" and "committing" are grammatical, but I like "to commit" much better because it is parallel with "to believe". — Peter Shor, Apr 03 '20 at 13:20
@PeterShor Oh, so both "incurring" and "to incur" must be grammatical too, then, although I see that it is not a word commonly used for fallacies... — Philosopher of science, Apr 03 '20 at 13:21
This question frequently gets asked on the site. Does this supply an answer? When should a verb be followed by a gerund instead of an infinitive? — WS2, Apr 03 '20 at 13:43
@WS2 Neither "to be" nor "believe" feature in those lists... — Philosopher of science, Apr 03 '20 at 13:54
You will have noted that it does say: Most verbs are followed by infinitives. If the verb is not found in the list below, it is probably followed by an infinitive..And as does @PeterShor I find the infinitive sounds better here. — WS2, Apr 03 '20 at 19:08

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 03 '20 at 14:16

According to Strunk & White's The Elements of Style:

Express coordinate ideas in similar form. This principle, that of parallel construction, requires that expressions similar in content and function be outwardly similar. The likeness of form enables the reader to recognize more readily the likeness of content and function.

Using this principle, "To believe...to commit..." would be the preferred construction.

Which is correct: "To believe this is committing a fallacy" or "To believe this is to commit a fallacy"?

1 Answers1