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  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

looking forward to hear / hearing from you

English translation: looking forward to HEARING from you

10:53 Oct 3, 2005
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: looking forward to hear / hearing from you
I know this is an odd question (and maybe not really for KudoZ) but recently I had a discussion about this with different people expressing different opinions so "once and for all" I'd like to know which one is right... Thanks in advance!
Charlotte Blank
Germany
Local time: 19:24
Selected answer:looking forward to HEARING from you
Explanation:
It's a noun! Looking forward to summer/autumn ...

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Note added at 2 mins (2005-10-03 10:56:31 GMT)
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Contrast: I would like to hear from you.
But you look forward to something (a noun), not a verb.

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Note added at 8 mins (2005-10-03 11:02:45 GMT)
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As it says in my Czech dictionary: Tĕšit se na dovolenou.

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Note added at 14 mins (2005-10-03 11:08:33 GMT)
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Well that was meant to be an e-hacek!
Selected response from:

David Knowles
Local time: 18:24
Grading comment
Thanks! I didn't think there would be such a discussion. BTW, your Czech example ("Looking forward to holidays") was quite nice :)
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +39looking forward to HEARING from you
David Knowles
5 -3Looking forward to hear from you.
Charlesp


  

Answers


1 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +39
looking forward to HEARING from you


Explanation:
It's a noun! Looking forward to summer/autumn ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 mins (2005-10-03 10:56:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Contrast: I would like to hear from you.
But you look forward to something (a noun), not a verb.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 mins (2005-10-03 11:02:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

As it says in my Czech dictionary: Tĕšit se na dovolenou.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2005-10-03 11:08:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Well that was meant to be an e-hacek!

David Knowles
Local time: 18:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20
Grading comment
Thanks! I didn't think there would be such a discussion. BTW, your Czech example ("Looking forward to holidays") was quite nice :)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mikhail Kropotov: Sure it's a Kudoz question :)
2 mins
agree  giogi
2 mins
agree  Penelope Ausejo
2 mins
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
3 mins
agree  Peter Linton (X)
4 mins
agree  Catherine Bolton
5 mins
agree  Dave Calderhead
6 mins
agree  Kevin Kelly: You are correct, sir.
6 mins
agree  Nick Lingris: TO is a preposition in this case. It is not the TO of the infinitive construction. It's like OF in 'think of' (e.g. I'm thinking of buying a new car). Once and for all.
6 mins
  -> Good point. That's probably the source of the confusion.
agree  Jack Doughty
9 mins
agree  Josephine79
9 mins
agree  Joanna Borowska
10 mins
agree  Kurt Porter
10 mins
agree  LJC (X)
11 mins
agree  Magda33
13 mins
agree  Johan Venter: Czech characters do not work very well in this forum, David :) P.s., hacek also needs a hacek, go figure.
21 mins
  -> Yes I knew that, but I thought it was tempting fate to find what I thought was the appropriate character!
agree  Ken Cox: with thanks to Nick for the supplementary grammatical argument
23 mins
agree  Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.
25 mins
agree  David Moore (X): You've still a long way to go to break the "agrees" record, but here's one to help, perhaps...//I think it's close to 60, but I don't remember where I found it - and I've no time to look for the moment. Ask Henry...?
29 mins
  -> Such a shame it's non-pro! What is the record?
agree  Emilie: That's it!
36 mins
agree  ENGSOL: here's my vote... for the record! ;-)
38 mins
agree  Mapi: here goes one more!
47 mins
agree  Lori Utecht/Vívian M Alves: and another
48 mins
agree  mrrobkoc
1 hr
agree  Oana Apetrei
1 hr
agree  Java Cafe
2 hrs
agree  J. Sanchez
2 hrs
agree  transparx: yes, a noun or gerund must follow. and Nick Lingris is absolutely correct. there are many other such cases: be/get used to/ object to ...etc. yes, "to" is like "of" in "i'm thinking of". compare "i'm used to doing" to "i used to do"
3 hrs
agree  Martin Perazzo
3 hrs
agree  Can Altinbay
3 hrs
agree  RHELLER: absolutely!
4 hrs
agree  Freimanis
5 hrs
agree  Dorota Nowakówna
6 hrs
agree  Yavor Dimitrov
6 hrs
agree  conejo
10 hrs
agree  Saiwai Translation Services
14 hrs
agree  Cristina Hritcu (X)
22 hrs
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
2 days 3 hrs
agree  Claudia Coja
2164 days
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -3
Looking forward to hear from you.


Explanation:
"Looking forward to hear from you." would be fine.


But if it is prefaced with the personal pronoun, and 'looking' changed to look, it should be "hearing."

"I look forward to hearing from you."



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Note added at 3 days 2 hrs 49 mins (2005-10-06 13:43:16 GMT)
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as this for an collateral illustration:
... it sounds like a very interesting proposition.

"Looking forward to meet you."



Charlesp
Sweden
Local time: 19:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  RHELLER: looking forward to hear from you is unacceptable
1 hr
  -> perhaps not gramatically correct according to the rules, but in common useage anyway (thanks for looking and for commenting)
disagree  Dave Calderhead: Sorry, Charlie, I'm with Rita on this but stronger - one does not say this in any type of English, but especilly not in written English where the error leaps out at you!
2 hrs
neutral  transparx: true, it's attested, especially in chat rooms & other such places, so your posting does contribute to the discussion somehow.it is also one of the thorniest problems for ESL learners, advanced though they may be. but it's incorrect and likely to remain so
10 hrs
disagree  David Moore (X): Again, I'm on the side of the "disagree" - but this time more emphatically, as "common usage" is so often wrong, and WE of all people should as far as possible be trying to encourage the CORRECT use of English. Shouldn't we, now...
17 hrs
disagree  Josephine79: It might be common, but that doesn't stop it being incorrect.
19 hrs
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