Phrases consisting of an adjective and a to-infinitive

Question

Don't be afraid to express your own views.In the sentence above, to-infinitive don't express cause adverbially unlike the other phrases consisting of an adjective and a to-infinitive like the followings; it looks like it is used nominally, if anything.1) I'm sorry to disturb you.2) I was so moved to read your article.3) I'm glad to meet you.4) I was surprised to get your letter.So I'd like to know whether an adjective can take a to-infinitive as the object.Thank you in advance for your help.

GPY · Accepted Answer

I don't see any fundamental difference in the grammar, and little difference in meaning:

I'm sorry to disturb you = disturbing you causes me to be sorry
I'm afraid to express my own views = (the prospect of) expressing my own views causes me to be afraid

(These paraphrases were devised to include your word "cause", and are not intended to be natural ways of expressing the idea.)

The difference would be that "disturb you", "read your article" etc. have happened, whereas "express my own views" is imagined or potential.

I'm not sure if I am missing the point of your question.

CalifJim · Answer

park sang joon I'd like to know whether an adjective can take a to-infinitive as the object.

Yes, though I'd say "complement", not "object". I don't see anything to do with causation, however.

afraid to express his views; ready to leave for work; eager to please everyone

CJ

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you, GPY and Mr.Jim, for your concrete answer.

I'm sorry to disturb you = disturbing you causes me to be sorry
I'm afraid to express my own views = (the prospect of) expressing my own views causes me to be afraid

(These paraphrases were devised to include your word "cause", and are not intended to be natural ways of expressing the idea.)

GPY, your answer meets the grammar explained in Korea.

Yes, though I'd say "complement", not "object". I don't see anything to do with causation, however.

Mr.Jim, your answer meets the grammar explained in advanced foreign grammar books.

And I'd like to ask you further questions similar to my original post.

I asked the usage of 'likely' about "Tickets are likely to be expensive." on another forum the other day and got the following answer.

Tickets are likely to be expensive.
Yes. The following account of how this happens might or might not be useful. 'Likely' is what is called a raising adjective. 'Probable' means the same but does not have the raising ability. First we can use them as a complement, with the fact or state clause as the subject:
That tickets will be expensive is likely/probable.
As you know, we don't much use 'that'-clauses as subject, and instead use dummy 'it':

It is likely/probable that tickets will be expensive.
Raising means that the subject of the lower clause can raise into the unused subject position of the main clause. (It is unused - dummy 'it' is there to stop it being actually empty). Now the subordinate clause has no subject, so it can't have a finite verb, so now it has to be infinitive:
(O) Tickets are likely __ to be expensive. [raising]
(X) Tickets are probable __ to be expensive. [raising not allowed]

please, could you tell me the other raising adjectives?

'Certain' and 'unlikely' are two I could find by a quick web search. There are also raising verbs, such as 'seem' and 'appear':

It seems that tickets are expensive.
Tickets seem to be expensive.

Again, a subject raises out of a subordinate clause (which must therefore be infinitive) into a dummy subject position. The two sentences are equivalent, as they are with raising adjectives.

The followings are lists, l think, don't express reason adverbially unlike other adjectives involving a to-infinitive?Please understand I still use the words 'adverbially' and 'reason'.
1) group A
be ready to do
be liable to do
be apt to do
2) group B
be anxious to do
be desirous to do
be keen to do
be eager to do
3) group C
be free to do

Could you make categories to explain the lists for me?

CalifJim · Answer

park sang joon'Likely' is what is called a raising adjective.

I'm more familiar with the term "subject-to-subject raising verbal", where verbals include verbs and adjectives, but that doesn't matter. I am somewhat familiar with the concept, but not anything like an expert at this type of analysis. It is based on the hypothesis that the surface structure of a sentence (what you see, what you say) is the result of deriving it from a deeper (underlying) structure through various 'transformations'.

The deep structure is often diagrammed as something (ungrammatical) like:

1 [tickets be expensive] be likely (Roughly, That tickets are expensive is (a) likely (fact).) [The deep structure is not something you actually say. It's just the basic conceptual structure.]

This can be transformed by introducing "it" as a dummy subject and moving the sentential subject to the end:

2 It is likely that tickets are expensive.

Now the subject of the "lower clause" (tickets) can be 'raised' to the "higher clause", replacing the dummy "it". At the same time the verb forms are changed so that the new subject agrees with its verb, and the original verb phrase is reduced to an infinitive construction.

3 Tickets are likely to be expensive.

The reason this 'raising' can be done is a property of the word "likely". In other words, not every adjective allows this transformation from (2) to (3). You are correct that likely, certain, seem, and appear have this property of allowing "subject-to-subject raising".

I have never made a study of these verbals, so I don't know if there are others. Though I have never seen any others listed anywhere, keep in mind that my experience with this type of analysis is very limited, so there well may be others that I don't know about.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

park sang joonThe followings are lists, l think, don't express reason adverbially unlike other adjectives involving a to-infinitive?Please understand I still use the words 'adverbially' and 'reason'.
1) group A be ready to do be liable to do be apt to do
2) group B be anxious to do be desirous to do be keen to do be eager to do
3) group C be free to do
Could you make categories to explain the lists for me?

After thinking about these for some time, I had the impression that the groupings had to do with which grammatical patterns each adjective is allowed to take. But then it looked like all the adjectives can appear in the same pattern, so I'm at a loss to discover what is required to characterize the categories.

Adjectives: ready, liable, apt; anxious, desirous, keen, eager; free

All adjectives are permitted in the pattern:

Jack is ____ to go.

The only thing that stands out for me is that group B adjectives have a paraphrase where the explicit subject of the higher clause is equivalent to the implicit subject of the lower clause. These are called "Equi" transformations by some linguists.

Jack is [anxious / desirous / keen / eager] (for Jack) to go.

Let me know if you find out how those three groups are supposed to be explained.

CJ

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you, Mr.Jim, for your very very concrete answer.

I have just listed the structures which can not be understood with the grammar taught in Korea
1) group A
be ready to do
be liable to do
be apt to do
2) group B
be anxious to do
be desirous to do
be keen to do
be eager to do
3) group C
be free to do

If I only see the above 'to do's as complements, my problem will easily be solved.
What do you think about my thought?

The only thing that stands out for me is that group B adjectives have a paraphrase where the explicit subject of the higher clause is equivalent to the implicit subject of the lower clause. These are called "Equi" transformations by some linguists.

Jack is [anxious / desirous / keen / eager] (for Jack) to go.

Let me know if you find out how those three groups are supposed to be explained.

Thank you; I didn't know about that at all; I will look into 'Equi' for further information.

CalifJim · Answer

park sang joonIf I only see the above 'to do's as complements

Well, yes, you can call them complements, but that's true for all three groups. Why make three groups if the explanation is the same for each group?

By the way, "free" works the same as "permitted". In this case the permission is granted by someone or something outside the sentence, i.e., not mentioned in the sentence. This is the only "group" that has this property, but I don't know if that's relevant to your quest.

CJ

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you, Mr.Jim for your continuing to answer.

Why make three groups

I didn't understand the clause above, please give me a account about that.

Well, yes, you can call them complements, but that's true for all three groups.

As we non-native speakers interpret the sentences with the rules of grammar, we tend to stick to detailed rules.
But I will try my best to do so as I have said and you have agreed about.

CalifJim · Answer

park sang joonWhy make three groups

~ Why have these adjectives been separated into three groups?

Where did you get this set of adjectives shown in three groups? Why not one group?

CJ

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you for your continuing to answer.

~ Why have these adjectives been separated into three groups?

Could you give me accounts of the grammatical usage about this abbreviated clause?

Where did you get this set of adjectives shown in three groups? Why not one group?

I have divided those on the basis of the usages of to-infinitive and the meanings of like adjectives.

Phrases consisting of an adjective and a to-infinitive

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