verbs - "Conductive to achieving" or "Conductive to achieve"?


So there is the sentence: "The current environment is not conducive to achieving the best results" The usage of "to verb+ing" is very confusing. What is the difference between "to achieving" and "to achieve"?


Thank you!


Thank you Ricky! I mistakenly typed the wrong word "conductive". You are totally right.


Thank you sooeithdk! You answered my question here. Now I have a clear sense of the gerund phase :)



Answer




The current environment is not conductive to achieving the best results.



Here, this "achieving" is used as a gerund, an ing-ending noun. This gerund is not a verb, even though it has some verbal characteristics. The rest of the gerund "the best results" finishes this gerund phrase. For more information, click http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/gerund_phrase.htm.


This use of gerund phrase is similar to using noun in this place instead.



The current environment is not conductive to the survival of wild animals.



In this sentence, as you can see, "to" is used as a preposition, not a to-infinitive.



The current environment is not conductive to achieve the best results.



In this sentence, this "to" is used as a to-infinitive, and also as an adverb phrase. Now, this achieve is a verb. This sentence means that environment is not conductive in order to achieve the best results. To is used to describe the purpose. Therefore, meaning perfectly changes. Some information about to-infinitive and adverb phrase: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/verbs-followed-infinitive, http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/grammar/advphr.htm.


I am not sure if "conductive" is the right word here..."helpful" would fit better.


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