Choose the most suitable option to replace the highlighted part of the sentence: She avoids to go to crowded places.

Correct — C. The trigger is avoid. It takes the -ing form, never a to-infinitive: avoid going, avoid meeting, avoid eating.

The highlighted part is 'avoids to go to crowded places', so the replacement must fix the verb and keep the destination.

'She avoids going to crowded places.' → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  avoids to going to — to going is still wrong after avoid, which takes the -ing form directly. It also drops crowded places, leaving 'She avoids to going to'.
• (b)
  avoids from going — from does not follow avoid. Prevent and refrain take from + -ing, but avoid takes the -ing form with no preposition. The option also drops the destination.
• (d)
  is avoiding to go to crowded place — is avoiding to go keeps the to-infinitive error. It also turns crowded places into crowded place, a singular count noun left without an article.

Verb patterns decide what follows a verb. Some verbs take a to-infinitive: want to go, decide to go. Others take the -ing form: avoid, enjoy, finish, mind, deny, consider, postpone, risk.

Avoid belongs to the second group, so it is avoid + -ing or avoid + noun: avoid going, avoid crowds.

No preposition comes between avoid and the -ing form. Compare prevent, which takes someone from going.

Key facts

• Avoid takes the -ing form: avoid going, never avoid to go.
• Enjoy, finish, mind, deny, consider, postpone and risk also take the -ing form.
• Prevent takes from + -ing: prevent someone from going. Avoid takes no preposition.

Common traps

• Reaching for the to-infinitive because avoids to go reads like wants to go
• Adding from by analogy with prevent from and refrain from

No directly related past PYQ was found.