We look forward to ____ from you regarding the revised proposal. The options offer hear, hearing, heard, and to hear, and a candidate who has drilled "to + base verb = infinitive" will reach for hear or to hear on instinct. Both are wrong. The answer is hearing. The to in look forward to is not the infinitive marker — it is a preposition, and a preposition is followed by a noun or a gerund, never a bare verb. TOEIC tests this pair precisely because the expression looks like it should take an infinitive, and the ear that has heard "I want to hear" a thousand times fills in the wrong form. This guide gives you the rule and the family of expressions built on the same trap.
The rule: this "to" is a preposition, so a gerund follows
Most of the time, to before a verb signals an infinitive: want to leave, plan to expand, agree to sign. But a small set of fixed expressions end in a preposition that happens to be spelled to. When to is a preposition, whatever follows it must be a noun or a gerund (the -ing form acting as a noun):
look forward to **hearing**(nothear, notto hear)look forward to the **meeting**(a plain noun — prooftois prepositional)
The test for whether to is a preposition is simple: try putting a noun after it. look forward to the weekend, look forward to your reply — both work, because to here takes an object like any preposition. Since a noun fits, a gerund fits, and a bare or infinitive verb does not. This is the same "the small word decides the structure" logic that runs through the make vs do collocation selection guide, where the fixed partner, not general meaning, dictates the answer.
The family of expressions that hide a prepositional "to"
TOEIC recycles a compact set of expressions where to is a preposition and a gerund must follow. Memorize the family and the trap disappears:
look forward to+ -ing —We look forward to working with you.be committed to+ -ing —The firm is committed to reducing emissions.be dedicated to+ -ing —She is dedicated to mentoring new hires.be devoted to+ -ing —The team is devoted to improving quality.object to+ -ing —They objected to relocating the office.be opposed to+ -ing —The board is opposed to raising fees.be accustomed to/be used to+ -ing —He is accustomed to working late.with a view to+ -ing —We hired staff with a view to expanding overseas.when it comes to+ -ing —When it comes to negotiating, she excels.
Every one of these takes -ing, and every one is a TOEIC favorite because the ear expects an infinitive after to. The be used to + -ing item overlaps a separate high-frequency trap — the difference between habitual used to and familiarity be used to — covered in the used to / be used to / get used to guide.
The sentence signals that expose the prepositional "to"
You do not need to memorize which verbs are which if you learn to spot the fixed phrase and apply the noun test:
- A complete fixed expression precedes the blank — if you see
look forward to ____,committed to ____,opposed to ____, the phrase itself is the signal. Do not analyzetoin isolation; recognize the whole collocation. - The blank can be replaced by a noun — mentally swap in a noun (
look forward to the launch). If a noun fits,tois a preposition and the verb must become a gerund. - A following object is present —
look forward to ____ the reportreads naturally aslook forward to reviewing the report; the gerund carries its own object exactly as a verb would.
Contrast this with a genuine infinitive trigger, where to is not preceded by a fixed prepositional phrase: We plan to ____ the report takes review (bare infinitive after plan to), because plan selects an infinitive, not a preposition.
Worked examples with the distractor logic
Example 1. The department is committed to ____ turnaround times by the end of the quarter.
Options: reduce / reducing / reduced / reduce them. be committed to ends in a prepositional to, so a gerund follows: reducing. reduce is the infinitive trap; reduced is a past form with no trigger; reduce them still leaves a bare verb where a gerund is required.
Example 2. Several residents objected to ____ the parking lot into a loading zone.
Options: convert / converting / conversion of / to convert. object to takes a gerund: converting. conversion of is a noun phrase that would work grammatically but is not offered cleanly here, and TOEIC's key targets the verb-form distinction; to convert and convert both misread the prepositional to as infinitival.
Example 3. We look forward to ____ your feedback before we finalize the design.
Options: receive / receiving / receipt / to receive. receiving — prepositional to plus gerund. receive and to receive are the reflex infinitive errors; receipt is a noun but does not fit the "before we finalize" action frame as smoothly as the gerund that TOEIC keys.
The one-line habit that gets it right every time
When you see to in Part 5, do not assume infinitive. Check what comes before it. If a fixed expression ends the phrase — look forward to, committed to, opposed to, accustomed to, object to, with a view to — then to is a preposition and the answer is the -ing form. Apply the noun test to confirm: if a noun could sit in the blank, a gerund is required. That single check converts one of Part 5's most reliable traps into an automatic point, and it pairs naturally with the broader dependent-preposition discipline this cluster builds across the each vs every determiner selection guide and the rest of the Part 5 grammar series.