"It is to be"+past participle - please help

Question

Hi there,
could anyone kindly help me with analysing these phrases, esp. the "is to be" parts:

a) It is to be hoped that the weather be sunny.
b) The cucumber is to be sliced with a knife.

I don't know how to describe these correctly in grammatical terms. Is it passive? A past participal construction? And is there a difference between the two examples because the meaning is somewhat different.

Many thanks in advance.
sophie

Avangi · Accepted Answer

I think it's just the "passive infinitive" of the verb "to be." The infinitive phrase acts as a noun phrase complement to "is."

So the verb "to be" is used twice in each sentence - once as the main verb of the sentence and once as it's complement.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if you'd say it's "to be" + past participle, or passive infinitive of the verbs "to hope" and "to slice." I think the latter.

There's also the interesting feature that it places the action in the future.

a) seems a little awkward. You'd think the "hoping" should be in the present. I'd call it bad style. The implication seems to be that all who are involved have a future obligation to hope for good weather.

Re b) is there something called "infinitive of purpose"? What's the cucumber for? (reply) To be sliced. (A hole is to dig - to be dug.) It sounds tempting, but I think it's just another way to express the future. "The cucumber is going to be sliced." (future tense, passive voice)

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks a lot for your help, Avangi!

"It is to be"+past participle - please help

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