英文文法~to-infinitive

“to commit resources to settling the doubt about the issue” 呢一句是應使用 settling, 不是 settle, 因為 "to" 在這一句是 preposition.

Sentence pattern:
commit something to something (noun/noun phrase)
commit someone/something to doing something

They committed more money to the project.
He has clearly committed his government to continuing down the path of economic reform.

“To” often causes confusion as it can be either
A. a part of an infinitive (e.g. to write, to do) infinitive with "to"
B. a preposition, followed for example by a noun .(e.g. I went to a park. I look forward to Christmas.)

When “to” is a preposition, it can be followed by –ing form of a verb, but not normally by the infinitive. Common expressions in which this happens are:

look forward to, object to, be used to, prefer doing one thing to doing another), get round to, resort to, committed to, devoted to, confess to, resigned to, close to, admit to, oppose to

I look forward to hearing from you.
Do you object to working on Sunday?
I am not used to driving in New York City.
I shall get round to doing the washing up sooner or later.
We may have to resort to using untrained staff.
He would have committed to spending several thousand dollars.
The report recommends more resources be devoted to teaching four-year-old kids.
He confessed to sleeping through most of the film.
She seems resigned to losing the race.
We are close to signing a contract after today’s meeting.
He admitted to knowing her.
The residents opposed to naming the high school after the property tycoon.

A good way of finding out whether "to" is a preposition or a part of an infinitive is to see if it is possible to put a noun/pronoun or noun phrase after it.
I look forward to Christmas. (Christmas ~ a noun)
I look forward to seeing you. (to is a preposition)

Be careful not to confuse used to/be used to.
I used to drive in Chicago.
I am used to driving in Chicago.


2014-02-11 12:05:57 補充：
No offence:

settling 在這句不是名詞
"to commit resources to [noun] the doubt about the issue" ~ 錯
settling 是 verb-ing, 用來 form the gerund phrase
這 gerund phrase "settling the doubt about the issue" functions as a noun phrase.

2014-02-11 12:10:04 補充：
“用 to infinitive 或 participle（ing form）文法都沒甚麼問題” ~ 這 statement 是錯

要清楚知道 to 是 part of an infinitive, 還是 preposition. 才選擇用什麼.
I look forward to see you. (to see ~ to-infinitive) ~ 錯
I look forward to seeing you. (to 是 preposition)

2014-02-11 12:13:32 補充：
此外, 一些 verbs 後用 to infinitive, 某些 verbs 後用 verb-ing
I want to go. (want + to-infinitive)
I won’t mind cleaning the floor. (mind + doing something)

有些 verbs 用什麼無分別
I like to swim = I like swimming

有些兩者可用, 但不同 meaning
I stopped to fill the gas tank.
I stopped filling the gas tank.

事實上，用 to infinitive 或 participle（ing form）文法都沒甚麼問題，但意思上有微小的分別，你不妨可以這樣理解：

to infinitive：to commit resources ''to do something''（commit resources「以用來做某件事」）

participle：to commit resources ''to'' ''doing something''（commit resources「於」「某一東西／方面」）


你的句子中的 settling 屬於後者的情況。

這裡看來, 寫的人是把 settling 用作名詞, 不是用作動詞, 名詞的意思是 : 澄清, 沉澱, 渣滓, 決定, 移居, 安裝固定

簡單來説，你是在問為何 "to commit resources to" 之後要用 gerund 或 noun，而不用 to-infinitive。

但網上兩者皆有：
[noun]
http://www.jobdig.com/articles/476/When_should_I_commit_resources_to_new_projects%3F.html

[to-infinitive]
http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f3434