Sign Up to our social questions and Answers Engine to ask questions, answer people’s questions, and connect with other people.
Login to our social questions & Answers Engine to ask questions answer people’s questions & connect with other people.
Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.
Please briefly explain why you feel this question should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this user should be reported.
Hi! I’m currently learning English Phrases to use on my job, and I saw “Looking forward to working with you” on my learning material. I want to make sure that I use formal phrases since I’m not a native and wouldn’t want my workmates to think I’m rude. Is “Looking forward to working with you” too casual?
I also see other people use, “I look forward to work with you.”
Is this also correct?
“Looking forward to working with you” is just a shortened version of “I am looking forward to working with you.” If you want to sound more formal, then just complete the sentence but it’s fine even if you don’t. You can definitely use this phrase at work 🙂
Hey!
To answer your question, “I look forward to working with you” is the correct one in terms of grammar. It’s also what I’d use at work instead of “Looking forward to working with you.”
“I look forward to work with you” is ungrammatical.
Why? Most people nowadays think that any verb which comes after “to” should have the base form of the verb in order to form the infinitive. (“to+verb, as in “to go” and “to walk”).
However, “to” has a different function than to form the infinitive verbs. The most common function is as a preposition (as in “Mae went to the grocery”). Another common function is as a verb particle, in which cases it combines with a verb to form what is called a particle verb (aka “two-word-verb).
When it comes to the sentence, “I look forward to working with you”
– the “look forward to” is a particle verb that means “to anticipate.” Since “to” is a preposition, it must have a direct object, and “working” happened to be that object. “working is the present participle of “work”, and present participles can often function as nouns, called gerunds.