Learn English – interested in hearing / interested to hear

infinitive-vs-gerundprepositions

Murphy's Grammar says that we use interested to … to say how somebody reacts to what they hear/see/read/learn. And we use interested in doing something when we're thinking of doing it, we would like to do it.

But I've found these usages from Google News:

We're always interested in hearing about news in our community.

We will be interested in hearing the company's progress on these projects.

I would be interested in hearing any proposals he might have.

Should not interested to hear be used in those sentences?

Best Answer

No, because all examples describe a future state. (Although in practice, neither would be viewed as inappropriate.**)

All of those examples apply to some possible future event (that, as you say, the speaker is thinking of doing or would like to do, i.e., hearing news, hearing progress, hearing proposals), so the formations as given can be correct.

If they were phrased in the past tense, interested to would be appropriate. For example, if the speaker had already heard the proposals, "I was interested to hear any proposals he might have had" would be a proper statement of his mood after hearing the proposals.

** The speaker could also be considered to be reflecting on a hypothetical future state, so "I would be interested to hear any proposals he might have," meaning "If I did hear any of his proposals, 'interested' would describe my mood" wouldn't come across as incorrect.