English — -ing after prepositions

When a verb follows a preposition, it takes the -ing form: good at cooking, interested in learning. This applies to every preposition, with no exceptions.

How it works

✓ Rule

Any verb placed directly after a preposition ends in -ing, never in the infinitive: instead of waiting (not instead of to wait), before leaving, interested in learning. The preposition may belong to an adjective (good at cooking), a verb (think about moving) or stand alone (after eating).

Examples

Common prepositions followed by -ing
Preposition	Example	Meaning
at	good at cooking	skilled at an activity
in	interested in learning	keen on something
of	instead of waiting	in place of an action
before	before leaving	prior to an action
after	after eating	following an action
about	think about moving	concerning an action
without	leave without saying goodbye	lacking an action
on	insist on paying	firmly about an action

Good to know

⚠ Note

Watch out for to: it is usually part of an infinitive (want to go), but in some fixed phrases it is a preposition and takes -ing: look forward to seeing you, be used to getting up early, object to paying. Test it by trying a noun after to — if look forward to the weekend works, then look forward to seeing is correct.