way of doing something vs. way to do something (2025)

What is the difference between a way of doing something and a way to do something?

I would say with the gerund it's a more common statement:

Is there a way of climbing up that mountain?

And if it's specific I would use the infinitive:

Is there a way for me to get a ticket for free?

Am I right?

Thanks for your answers.

rsm33 said:

I do not think there is any difference worth worrying about. If there is a distinction, it is incredibly subtle and would be lost on most English ears.
To take your examples:
"Is there a way of climbing up that mountain?" can be replaced by "Is there a way to climb up that mountain?" and "Is there a way for me to get a ticket for free?" can be replaced by "Is there a way of getting a ticket for free?" (You will notice that I've left out "for me" in the last sentence as it would have to be replaced by "my" in front of "getting", but that is almost too correct and very few people would talk like that.)
The only subtle difference I can think of is if you altered your examples slightly and had "the way" instead of "a way". In that case, you would use "to do something" rather than "of doing". eg "This is the way to do it", not "This is the way of doing it." In other words, if you want to be prescriptive rather than descriptive, you would use the infinitive construction.

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I would say there was 'no way of knowing he was rich' rather than 'no way to know'. The latter sounds incorrect.

davidgm1000 said:

I would say there was 'no way of knowing he was rich' rather than 'no way to know'. The latter sounds incorrect.

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I feel that if the context was that gang members were plotting to kidnap "him" if he were rich, "no way to know" would be more appropriate.

What do you think?

Copyright said:

I find it difficult to answer because you would determine whether he was rich before you started plotting.

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Good point logically. It seems there's no preference given to either version even in the context I assumed.

velisarius said:

...
There's a way to find out if an egg is fresh. When we use "there's a way to", it implies that we may set out to do this,
...

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That's a good observation. Look at post #9 on english-test.net website.

sunyaer said:

That's a good observation. Look at post #9 on english-test.net website.

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What is your point? I was discussing the specific example with "way of knowing/to know".

velisarius said:

What is your point? I was discussing the specific example with "way of knowing/to know".

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My point is that the infinitive "to" carries the implication of setting out to do it while the gerund form indicates the action, which might be happening at the time of uttering, as in the example of my way of boiling eggs on English.test website. This generalization is regardless of the verb following "to" or "of".

Hi, I have a question about this. Here's a sentence from an exercise:

As she was writing, I noticed she had a very strange way OF HOLDING/TO HOLD her pen.

Would you guys say both options are interchangeable then? Because the answer key only seems to allow the former. So what do you think? Could I also use the latter? If not, is there a reason for that?

Thanks a lot!

Only "She had a strange way of holding her pen" for me too. I would be very surprised to hear "She had a strange way to hold he pen" from a native speaker of English.

I can only speculate about why because we don't learn rules about this type of thing; we learn the language through imitation. It seems to me that the "to"-form can be used when we are seeking to achieve an objective, e.g. "Is there a way to get from here to there in under an hour?" "She had a strange way of holding a pen" is about method, not objective. Just speculation, as I say. You really need a good, comprehensive manual of grammar for this level of detail.

That's a strange way to hold a pen.
The teacher showed me the right way to hold a pen.
That's the wrong way to hold a pen.

She has a special way of holding her head on one side.
She had a strange way of holding her pen.

"A way of doing something" refers to the particular manner in which someone does something. "A/the way to do something" seems to refer to the correct manner in which something should be done.

Edit - another example:
This is the best way to hold a pen/make an omelette.
This is one way of holding a pen/making an omelette.

e2efour said:

I agree with those who see no difference between way of doing and way to do.

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Could you really say "She had a strange way to hold her pen"?

Probably not.

But I would happily change the infinitives in #19 to ing-forms, although I would stick to the last two sentences there.

I'm not saying that people don't have preferences, but that either these preferences vary between individuals or it is not possible to make up a rule to choose between the infinitive and the -ing form.

velisarius said:

That's a strange way to hold a pen.
The teacher showed me the right way to hold a pen.
That's the wrong way to hold a pen.

She has a special way of holding her head on one side.
She had a strange way of holding her pen.

"A way of doing something" refers to the particular manner in which someone does something. "A/the way to do something" seems to refer to the correct manner in which something should be done.

Edit - another example:
This is the best way to hold a pen/make an omelette.
This is one way of holding a pen/making an omelette.

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I'm confused about the difference between the two:
A. That's a strange way to hold a pen.
B. This is one way of holding a pen/making an omelette.
I think "A" refers to the particular manner in which someone does something as well.
But why is "to hold" used instead of "of holding" in sentence A?
Thanks!

velisarius said:

"A way of doing something" refers to the particular manner in which someone does something. "A/the way to do something" seems to refer to the correct manner in which something should be done.

Edit - another example:
This is the best way to hold a pen/make an omelette.
This is one way of holding a pen/making an omelette.

Click to expand...

velisarius said:

That's a strange way to hold a pen.
The teacher showed me the right way to hold a pen.
That's the wrong way to hold a pen.

She has a special way of holding her head on one side.
She had a strange way of holding her pen.

"A way of doing something" refers to the particular manner in which someone does something. "A/the way to do something" seems to refer to the correct manner in which something should be done.
Edit - another example:
This is the best way to hold a pen/make an omelette.
This is one way of holding a pen/making an omelette.

Click to expand...

sound shift said:

Only "She had a strange way of holding her pen" for me too. I would be very surprised to hear "She had a strange way to hold he pen" from a native speaker of English.
I can only speculate about why because we don't learn rules about this type of thing; we learn the language through imitation. It seems to me that the "to"-form can be used when we are seeking to achieve an objective, e.g. "Is there a way to get from here to there in under an hour?" "She had a strange way of holding a pen" is about method, not objective. Just speculation, as I say. You really need a good, comprehensive manual of grammar for this level of detail.

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I can't tell the difference between "way to do something" and "way of doing something" applying the explanation above. Could anyone please help me with that? Thank you
1. I think one of the best ways to reduce global warming is to plant more trees.
2. In your opinion, what’s one of the best ways of tackling global warming?

PureLand said:

I can't tell the difference between "way to do something" and "way of doing something" applying the explanation above. Could anyone please help me with that? Thank you
1. I think one of the best ways to reduce global warming is to plant more trees.
2. In your opinion, what’s one of the best ways of tackling global warming?

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It's not an easy difference to try and explain. But I would say that (1), with the infinitive, describes an aim or objective whereas (2) with the gerund describes more of a process.

But there's a lot of overlap and in that particular pair of examples there is for most practical purposes no real difference: they both imply more or less the same thing.

DonnyB said:

It's not an easy difference to try and explain. But I would say that (1), with the infinitive, describes an aim or objective whereas (2) with the gerund describes more of a process.

But there's a lot of overlap and in that particular pair of examples there is for most practical purposes no real difference: they both imply more or less the same thing.

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Thank you so much for your clear explanation, DonnyB