Studying sponges

I dedicated my life to studying sponges
I s that correct grammatically when we say " to studying"
because I know that the preposition to the verb should be infinitive
to+infinitive
somebody help
thanx

Hello ameer1001, Thanks for

Stephen Jones's picture

Submitted by Stephen Jones on 16 April, 2012 - 12:18. United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Hello ameer1001,

Thanks for your question. In this sentence, the word studying is behaving like a noun, which confuses some learners. We have a page on -ing verbs and how they work.

Also, certain verbs, nouns and adjectives are followed by certain prepositions.

The verb dedicate is almost always followed by the preposition to. Good dictionaries, like the Cambridge Dictionaries Online facility on the right of this page, often tell you which preposition follows a particular verb, noun, or adjective in these instances.

Learning these combinations can really help with exams and making your English sound more natural!

Regards,

Stephen Jones
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Mr Stephen Jones

ameer1001's picture

Submitted by ameer1001 on 19 April, 2012 - 20:26. Jordan

Thank you for your kind attention and backup, the point is clear for me now. nouns in English could be ended with" ing" and doesn't' necessarily that a word with ing end, in a sentence, being a verb in continuous form.