his dream of becoming a pianist/his dream to become a pianist

[diamondcutter]

At the age of ten, he lost his arms in an accident, but he never gave up his dream of becoming a pianist.
At the age of ten, he lost his arms in an accident, but he never gave up his dream to become a pianist.
(By me)

In this context, I want to know if both his dream of becoming a pianist and his dream to become a pianist are acceptable. If so, which one is more common?

 

[GoesStation]

Only sentence one works. Dream of becoming is a fixed phrase.

 

[tedmc]

He dreams (verb) to become a pianist.
He has a dream (noun) of becoming a pianist.

 

[5jj]

He dreams (verb) to become a pianist..

I'd say He dreams of becoming a pianist.

 

[emsr2d2]

He dreams (verb) to become a pianist. :cross:
He has a dream (noun) of becoming a pianist. :tick:

I'm not sure, ted, if you were simply trying to show that "dreams" is a verb in that sentence but you failed to indicate that "dreams to become" is incorrect, which might confuse the OP.
The second sentence above is grammatically correct but still not as natural as "He dreams of becoming a pianist".

 

[jutfrank]

I think they're both perfectly 'acceptable' but differ in meaning to such a barely significant extent as to be practically the same. Use the first.

 

[Rover_KE]

Let's be realistic.

At the age of ten, he broke all his fingers in an accident, but he never gave up his dream of becoming a pianist.

 

[Tdol]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p9VtSo-MEY

 

[Rover_KE]

Good point.