'Consider Doing' or 'Consider to Do'? Which One Is Correct? | Mastering Grammar

(Last Updated: 2 February 2024)

Consider Doing or Consider to Do: Which One Is Correct?

When consider is followed by a verb, the verb should take the form of a gerund (i.e., a noun formed by adding -ing to a verb), not an infinitive. Use the pattern consider doing something:

✅ Anna started to consider changing her job a few years ago.
❌ Anna started to consider to change her job a few years ago.

✅ Please consider donating to this charity.
❌ Please consider to donate to this charity.

✅ Have you ever considered moving abroad?
❌ Have you ever considered to move abroad?

✅ He considered starting his own business.
❌ He considered to start his own business.

✅ Tom is considering selling his house.
❌ Tom is considering to sell his house.

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Examples from the Media

The House passed it [Bill C-18, the Online News Act] just before the holiday break—prompting ire from Meta, which said it would consider removing Canadian news content from its Facebook platform altogether if the bill continues to make progress—and sent it to the Senate. —Toronto Star (2022)

Instead of the energy-gobbling skyscrapers popping up all over the UK, we might yet consider building the local and modern equivalent of the Convento de Santa Clara—offices in the form of courtyard buildings, where we could work pretty much all year, if we wanted to, on deep balconies, alive with birdsong and the sound of falling rain. —The Guardian (2006)

Congress has considered banning online gambling in the past. —The Sydney Morning Herald (2006)

Prime Minister John Key says he will consider changing the national flag at this year's election if there is a public appetite for it. —The New Zealand Herald (2014)