The thief confessed to <em>stealing </em>the camera from the display. The italiced word is a <em>gerund </em>because it functions as a noun. <em>Stealing i</em>s the object to the preppsition <em>to </em>and a preposition is always followed by a <em>gerung</em> . If the thief confessed to stealing the camera, in fact, this is what is meant: The thief confessed to someone <em>that he had stolen the camera</em>. The italiced clause can be nominalised through a<em> gerund</em> preceded by a preposition as the one in the original sentence.
