"be to verb" form appears confusing for me...

Question

Again, anybody who can help me understand this I would appreciate.

Another excerpt from news article - the same "Medical News Today, under the title Dispersing asylum seekers may increase HIV burden". It reads as follow.

"This study is a reflection of doctors' opinions, however the serious concerns raised warrant further investigation if we are to ensure that dispersal is not to be detrimental to patients' health, they conclude. "

I am not quite sure the usage of 'be to verb form', i.e. the difference between (1) "... further investigation 'if we are to ensure that'" and (2: not written in the article but many would come up with rather simple way like) "...further investigation 'if we ensure that". This "be to verb" form appears soon after as "dispersal is not to be detrimental..." as well.

Is this phrase replacable with "would" or is there more that somebody can explain very well?

Again, thanks in advance.

Haoqide · Accepted Answer

hehe, wow, souroin. You've got some wordy problems that you're working with here! Let's see if we can help you here.

I think I understand your question, and you're right.

"This study is a reflection of doctors' opinions, however the serious concerns raised warrant further investigation if we are to ensure that dispersal is not to be detrimental to patients' health, they conclude. "

has the same meaning as...

"This study is a reflection of doctors' opinions, however the serious concerns raised warrant further investigation if we are to ensure that dispersal would not be detrimental to patients' health, they conclude. "

There are other acceptable ways to say this, and I think that some of the punctuation in the sentence itself needs some help, but what you have said would work fine as a substitute in the sentence. Good job! Keep it up!

Souroin · Answer

Hello, Haoqide,

Oh mio maestro (or mia maestra)!! I can't just put 'very appreciated' but more than that I like to put. Beside of amazingly quick reply for the other question posted today, it is very encouraging and nice to have such positive feedback laid in your message. It would be very nice to have a teacher like you, I suppose. You made my day lucker!! Million tks are enough (ha-ha)?

Let me get back to my question. Yeah, I thought so for the second "be to verb" part but I wasn't sure about the first 'be to verb" place. Two woulds might not make right sense - I take your message 'need some help on some of the punctuation'.

I want to check if I got 'feeling' of it right or there is another way. It's difficult to express the feeling I sensed about the first part: it sounds like "warrant further investigation if the situation need us to ensure..." or "if we will have to ensure", or (might be too much) "if we are pushed to ensure (I am exaggerating here but 'we' sound like not really wanting to pursue much about it or 'we' don't sound like being voluntarily cooperative, perhaps the further investigation isn't quite imminent task). These might not be quite right...

I know my message gets quite wordy therefore I really appreciate people like you with great patience to read through and get my message of question. Thanks for your time on these issues. Also anybody attemps on answering this or even stopped by to read thanks a lot.

Have a nice day, Haoqide and everyone!

Haoqide · Answer

You're very welcome!

I'm glad I can help you out, Souroin! I hope I can help you further here. Here are a few other examples of what you could say for this sentence, with the punctuation corrected (sort of).

"This study is a reflection of doctors' opinions; however, the conclusion is that the serious concerns raised warrant further investigation if we are to ensure that dispersal is not to be detrimental to patients' health. "

"This study is a reflection of doctors' opinions; however, we should investigate further to ensure that dispersal is not detrimental to patients' health. "

"This study is a reflection of doctors' opinions, but the serious concerns should be investigated further to ensure that dispersal would not be detrimental to patients' health."

I hope those give you some kind of help there, Souroin. If not, ask for more.

Souroin · Answer

Hello, Haoqide

Trillion thanks for your time on this and very detailed easy-to-understand answers.
I understood as that the sentence merely suggest a 'future' action (to be taken - perhaps intended) but the sentence did not necessarily insinuate negative connotation, just my overly done misconstruing - yet to see whether the organisation will invetigate further, though.

Thanks again, have a nice day or I hope you had a nice day!

Souroin,

CalifJim · Answer

First of all, "are to ensure", but not "to be detrimental", has the pattern "BE TO + VERB". ("detrimental" is an adjective, not a verb, and the group it appears in contains 'to be', not 'be to'.)

As for the "if we are to ensure", it can be paraphrased as any of the following:

if we are expected to ensure
if we are supposed to ensure
if we must ensure

"BE TO + VERB" often = "MUST VERB"
The construction has features of both futurity and obligation.

("would ensure" is not the best paraphrase. The simple present doesn't capture the sense of obligation of this construction, so it is not a good paraphrase either.)

Souroin · Answer

Hello, CalifJim,

E apparito un altro maestro mio!! Thank you very much for your attention and another clear answer. The answer you showed me helped the cloud of confusion sailing over my head.

Every bits of this sort of small tiny and not really noticeable thing about English every now and then makes me realise that English appears very easy language but actually deceptive and quite delicate as very subtle tiny thing has decisive meaning. I like about that. Still a lot to learn, for me.

Anyway, I would appreciate your support again sometime when you find my questions posted.

Thank you,
Souroin

CalifJim · Answer

Prego, signore / signora.

I think the correspondence you're looking for is something very close to the following.

"if we are to ensure ... " = "si dobbiamo assicurare ..."

Jim

Souroin · Answer

Hello, Jim

I'm sorry but I didn't realise you have posted another nice reply. Thank you.
It's sometime easier to learn from another language what a sentence in English can mean.
The answer was practically a 'straight.'

Best regards,

"be to verb" form appears confusing for me...

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions