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Q: Proper form of "exceed"... ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Proper form of "exceed"...
Category: Reference, Education and News
Asked by: dpniner-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 10 Dec 2002 14:42 PST
Expires: 09 Jan 2003 14:42 PST
Question ID: 122617
Which is the more grammaticly correct sentence:

"We are dedicated to exceed your expectations." or
"We are dedicated to exceeding your expectations."
Answer  
Subject: Re: Proper form of "exceed"...
Answered By: scriptor-ga on 10 Dec 2002 15:39 PST
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Dear dpniner,

"We are dedicated to exceeding your expectations" is the correct form
of the sentece. This is so because "being dedicated to" ("dedicated
to" is in such sentences an adjective) is always used as "being
dedicated to something", with this "something" being a thing, a cause,
a person - in brief: Something that imperatively needs to be
represented in a sentence by a noun. You won't find any way to make up
a sentence with the "X is dedicated to"-pattern referring to something
else but a noun or a term modified to serve as a noun.
So if the construct "We are dedicated to" is desired to refer to a
form of the verb "to exceed", this verb must be modified to a form
that distinguishes its new role as a noun. This is done by adding the
ending "-ing". After such a modification, the verb has become a
"gerund" and can be used as a noun in a sentence. The words "your
expectations" following the gerund here do not change anything about
that.

You will find "dedicated to" here in a list of adjectives always
followed by gerunds in cases like the one you asked about:

Grammar Goblins: Using Gerunds & Infinitives, by Dr. Sheryl Presents
http://langues.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/sbeller/quizzes/Grammar_Goblins/GGvger-infinExplan.html

Sources:

The CMSU Writing Center: Gerunds and Participles: Verbs with -ing
Endings
http://www.cmsu.edu/writingcenter/PDF_files/gerunds%20and%20participles.pdf

The Basics of Verbs, by Kellee Weinhold, 2000
http://grammar.uoregon.edu/verbals/verbals.html

Search terms used:
"ing endings":
://www.google.de/search?q=%22ing+endings%22&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
"ing endings" gerund:
://www.google.de/search?q=%22ing+endings%22+gerund&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&meta=
"dedicated to" gerund:
://www.google.de/search?q=%22dedicated+to%22+gerund&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&meta=

Hope this helps!
Regards,
Scriptor
dpniner-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $2.00
What more could I ask for?  Not only did you assist me in winning a
debate, you prevented the organization I work for from posting a
grammaticly-incorrect phrase on all of our doors!

Great work!

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