My job is to do something or doing something?

Question

My job is to teach English.
My job is teaching English.

Which one is correct and why?

Probably a duplicate: started-verb vs verb {started to teach vs started teaching}, and related Catenatives followed by infinitives and gerunds. — Edwin Ashworth, Jan 02 '21 at 14:33
Partly addressed at ing-form / infinitive at the beginning of a sentence (J Lawler addresses where non-finite complement clauses can be used in a sentence). 'Teaching' here is the unmarked option; 'to teach' would either be used with a specification (as in Kate's answer) or as an emphatic response say, when a fellow teacher says you should often mention Elbonian communication methods to be multicultural. — Edwin Ashworth, Jan 02 '21 at 14:45

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 02 '21 at 13:35

2

If teaching is your occupation, I would consider the gerund (teaching) to be more idiomatic. I would use the infinitive when referring to a one-off task.

My job was to teach the King of Ruritania's son to speak English.

answered Jan 02 '21 at 13:35

Kate Bunting

25,480

My job is to do something or doing something?

1 Answers1