Emails & Looking Forward to

Do you know which word is one of the most troublesome in English?  
A hint: it is just a word with two, not four, letters. 


Well, one more hint, you usually use it with 'hear' to end an email (or a letter).   ‘To’ is just a two-letter word, right?  Yet it is a word that causes lots of trouble in English, especially when you want to end your email or letter by asking someone to reply.

You don't think so?  

Alright, which one of the following is correct?
I am looking forward to hear from you.I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Before you get the answer, you have to go back to the past.
Who is the one in the picture?  Your teacher?

Did this happen to you?

At a grammar lesson, your teacher told you a golden rule, which is:

After ‘to’, add nothing, ‘ing’ included, to the verb.



So if this is correct, the answer will be:

I am looking forward to hear from you.

Yet, the correct answer is:

I am looking forward to hearing from you.    

     
So your teacher was wrong.  No, not exactly!

The thing is: she just told you half of the story.



And you are going to learn the other half now.



The second half of the story is an experiment.

An experiment?  Don’t panic.  Well, it is a bit exaggerating.


But what you need to do is just to look forward.  Yes, just look forward.

What do you see?

Correct me if I am wrong.  You see a computer or a smart phone, right?

And what do a computer and a smart phone have in common?


They are all English?  Well, no time for kidding.

They are all things, or if you like, nouns.  

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So what is my point?  Or do I have one?



The point is:

   When you look forward, you see something, right?

   And that something is a noun.

 
So? 

So for now, you have two things: Which two?Look forward + a smart phone

And when you link the two together, you need a word, right?And the word is one of the most troublesome in English, which is:
to

So it becomes:

Look forward TO a smart phone


Well, it is ‘impossible’ to write:
   Look forward a smart phone (WRONG)

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So how does ‘a smart phone’ relate to ‘hearing from you’?
 
Both (a smart phone and hearing) are nouns.

                                             What?

Yes, ‘hearing’ can work as a noun.

How?

Read the following two sentences:

I shop every day.

I do some shopping every day.

The word ‘shop’ is a verb but ‘shopping’ is a noun.

In the sentence, shopping is something, some kind of activity, so it is a noun.

Yes, you are right.  Sometimes when you add ‘ing’ to a verb, it becomes a noun.
 So the tips are:

Looking forward to	+	a thing (a noun)
Hear     +     ing	=	a thing (a noun)

-----> I am looking forward to hearing from you.
__________________________________________The same tips apply to:  

I am looking forward 

to serving you (in the near future).  to meeting you (tomorrow)  to seeing you  (at the meeting)





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Pic sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trippchicago/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bensutherland/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofed/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hktang/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dno1967b/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ringkong/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/irinaslutsky/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/