It is foolish ……… a picnic on a rainy day.

Question

It is foolish ……… a picnic on a rainy day.
a)to have (Answer Key)
b)having

school exam

Hello,
Once one told me that both of the options are correct and I got surprised how both can work here.
Do you agree that both are correct?

Thank you.

RandomGuy · Accepted Answer

sb70012Do you agree that both are correct?

Yes. However, gerund-participials much more commonly occur in subject rather than extraposed subject position (Having a picnic on a rainy day is foolish). With to-infinitivals it’s the other way around. That’s probably why according to the answer key only to have is correct.

Anonymous · Answer

Aspara Gus (Having a picnic on a rainy day is foolish).

I agree with the sb70012, Both versions are correct, but the 2nd version is only more appropriate within a specific context:
It's been raining on and off all week. Mary wants to have a picnic outing. The morning looks cloudy and John looked reluctant to go,and said " It is foolish having a picnic on a rainy day!"

RandomGuy · Answer

Anonymous the 2nd version is only more appropriate within a specific context:It's been raining on and off all week. Mary wants to have a picnic outing. The morning looks cloudy and John looked reluctant to go,and said " It is foolish having a picnic on a rainy day!"

I don’t see that, GF.

Sb70012 · Answer

Aspara GusI don’t see that, GF.

Hello,
May I know what you mean by this?

Thank you.

Fivejedjon · Answer

sb70012 Aspara GusI don’t see that, GF.Hello,May I know what you mean by this?Thank you.

Aspara Gus does not think that GF (the anonymous poster) is correct in what h write. I agree with Aspara Gus.

Sb70012 · Answer

I searched for [it's foolish + gerund] but I even couldn't find one example.
But I found hundreds of examples for [it's foolish + to-infinitive]

http://fraze.it/n_search.jsp?hardm=1&t=0&l=0&p=1&q=it%27s+foolish

RandomGuy · Answer

sb70012I searched for [it's foolish + gerund] but I even couldn't find one example.But I found hundreds of examples for [it's foolish + to-infinitive]

As I said, to-infinitivals are much more usual in this function. But you hear gerund-participials occasionally: the COCA has over 100 citations for It was/is + adjective + extraposed gerund-participial.

Sb70012 · Answer

Aspara Gus the COCA has over 100 citations for It was/is + adjective + extraposed gerund-participial.

Thank you.
May I have the link please? I really like to see those examples.

RandomGuy · Answer

sb70012May I have the link please? I really like to see those examples.

Here you are:

http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/

Enter these strings in the search box:

it is [j] [v?g*]
it was [j] [v?g*]

Sb70012 · Answer

Aspara Gus Enter these strings in the search box:it is [j] [v?g*]it was [j] [v?g*]

Thanks a million. Now I'm looking at the examples.
Wow, looks great. Thank you.
Just one more thing,
Aspara, why should I type them like that in the search box?

I mean ==>it is [j] [v?g*]
==> it was [j] [v?g*]

Is it a technique or what? Do you know why I am asking this? Because later, I may use this website and I may not be able to know how and what I should type in the search box. If you didn't tell me these two blue expressions, I wouldn't know what I should type in the search box.

Would you please be kind enough to teach me how you have learned this? For example, you have used a [?] after [v]
or a [*] after [g]. Why?

Thank you.

It is foolish ……… a picnic on a rainy day.

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