Expert: A.M. Roher - 9/27/2006

Question
I'm reading a manual at work and the following sentences are like fingernails on a chalkboard, and I'm curious whether they are gramatically correct:

<Company Name> is committed to comply with all applicable international and local laws and regulations.

<Company Name> Information System is committed to meet the business needs by automating the manual processes in a compliant way.

Should the above "to comply" and "to meet" be "to complying" and "to meeting" or is the sentence structure correct?

Just curious.  I remember when the book "Elvis and Me" came out and I thought it should be "Elvis and I", but found out the title was gramatically correct.  So, there you go.  Some things that just hit my ear wrong are indeed correct.

Thanks!

Answer
Hello, Gail.

1.  This choice is conditional on verb tense, so the correct choice depends on the context.

"To meet" and "to comply" are present tense and imply for one time only, such as we are committed to meet and to comply with all court requirements.  We are going to comply at this time.

"To meeting" and "to complying" are present progressive tense, which means ongoing meeting and complying.  

Therefore, it depends on which one your handbook refers to in context.  I can only guess that the first usage may or may not be correct, but the second one does seem to be the wrong choice.