Certain

Taka is it the same as "in order to communicate…"?

Yes.

What about these two, MM?

He used the right tools to fix his bike.
He used certain tools to fix his bike.

Still the same as "in order to fix…"?

The first seems more adjectival to me; I don't know why, but it is obviously semantic, not syntactic.

OK, then what about this, without "right"?

He used the tools to fix his bike.

Does it still seem adjectival?

TakaDoes it still seem adjectival?

Nope. Now I see 'in order to'.

Interesting. It seems like "certain" works as a restrictive word like the article "the" and there is no need for further modification by to-infinitive.

Just out of interest, would you come up with an example where "to do" of "certain+noun+to do" is a modifier of the noun in front and "do" is intransitive or transitive with an object?

Taka would you come up with an example where "to do" of "certain+noun+to do" is a modifier of the noun in front and "do" is intransitive or transitive with an object?

Too much work!

I take it as meaning that you cannot easily come up with one, which also means that such examples are quite rare.

Thanks, MM!

When I entered her studio, I noticed certain tools to sculpt clay.

I think that matches your syntactic requirement: "certain" + noun +

Thanks for the example. Very interesting.

In your example, "He used certain tools to fix his bike," there's some ambiguity whether you're describing the kind of tools (bike-fixing tools) or whether your describing the reason for their use.

OH, so it's basically ambiguous. I see.

Thank you!