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I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out whether the sentence below is grammatically correct or not. (is it okay to say admit to something being something else?)

"The Prime Minister admits to the education system being in a bad condition"

Thanks in advance.

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  • The or some other determiner on education system is needed. It could be headlinese, but the initial determiner argues against that.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 20:00
  • People can admit to all sorts of things. Can you please edit your question to note why you think wording of the given admission might be ungrammatical?
    – Lawrence
    Commented Jun 8, 2018 at 9:06
  • @Lawrence I have clearly pointed out what might be ungrammatical. Is the structure above correct? (using an object after admit to). and if you read some of the answers you would have noticed that some said that it seems a little off to use this structure. but no one has given a clear explanation yet. Cheers!
    – ArashSM79
    Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 5:41
  • Grammatically, the sentence looks fine to me, which is why I'm asking what specifically seems ungrammatical to you. The structure (someone) admits to (something) isn't unusual. It's not an admission that the education system "is something else" - it's an admission about the state of the education system. Even if he admitted that the education system was something else, it's still grammatical - e.g. he admits to his car being his office.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 6:06
  • @Lawrence Aha! that's the answer I've been looking for. Much obliged.
    – ArashSM79
    Commented Jun 16, 2018 at 20:15

3 Answers 3

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I would switch the sentence to "The Prime Minister admits the education system being in a bad condition", if that is your question, this sentence is correct, using "to the education system" seems a little off.

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"Admit to" is commonly only used when referring to personal charges:

John admitted to killing Mandy
BP admitted to failing to safely operate the Deepwater Horizon rig.

"Admit that" is better usage if admitting general facts:

The Prime Minister admits that the education system is in bad condition.

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  • Have you got a source to substantiate your claim? because I've surfed a whole bunch of sites and they all say that "admit to" and "admit" are the same and it's just a matter of style.
    – ArashSM79
    Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 5:35
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Lawrence pointed out "Grammatically, the sentence looks fine to me, which is why I'm asking what specifically seems ungrammatical to you. The structure (someone) admits to (something) isn't unusual. It's not an admission that the education system "is something else" - it's an admission about the state of the education system. Even if he admitted that the education system was something else, it's still grammatical - e.g. he admits to his car being his office."

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