report to save or report to be save, which is correct?

Question

After pressing the button, you will get a confirmation report to be saved.After pressing the button, you will get a confirmation report to save.which is the correct one?

Rachelanne · Accepted Answer

YoyoimutAfter pressing the button, you will get a confirmation report to be saved.

After pressing the button, you will get a confirmation report to save.

which is the correct one?

"to be saved" would suggest that is an order.

"to save" suggest that you save if you want to.

BarbaraPA · Answer

... a confirmation report that can be saved.
... a confirmatino report that you can save.

Yoyoimut · Answer

I am sorry, I am still confused with this problem.

Let me give other examples:

Before processing can begin, the part of the XML document with the information to be copied to the output must be selected with a XPath expression.

Before processing can begin, the part of the XML document with the information to copy to the output must be selected with a XPath expression.

Do they have the same "meaning" like your previous explaination?

Thank you.

BarbaraPA · Answer

YoyoimutBefore processing can begin, the part of the XML document with the information to be copied to the output must be selected with a XPath expression.

Before processing can begin, the part of the XML document with the information to copy to the output must be selected with a XPath expression.

to be copied - this implies that the information MUST be copied by (you? the user?). When you say something "is to be [participle]" it means that it must be done.

If the user must copy that information, then use the first one.

Yoyoimut · Answer

OK. I understood the first case (nount + to be + past participle). Thanks you very much.

I am still confused with the second one (noun + to + infinitive).

Let me give the following two examples:

A) I sent you a technician to repair your television.

B) I sent you a file to copy.

The first sentence implies that the technician will do the given action (reparing the television).

If I follows the same rule as the first sentence, the second sentence should imply that the file will do copying rather that the file will be copied.

Thus, in my opinion (might be wrong), the pattern (noun + to + infinitive) implies that the noun does the given action. However, the pattern (noun + to be+ past participle) implies that the action is applied to the noun.

Other examples:

1. He is a technician to repair your television.

2. It is a file to copy. <

= maybe it is grammatically incorrect, isn't?

3. It is a file to be copied.

Please confirm me. Thank you.

CalifJim · Answer

<<I sent you a technician to repair your television.>>

This is not a kind of technician. He is not "a technician to repair your television". He is just "a technician".

The reason I sent him to you -- the purpose for my sending him to you -- is that he can repair your television.

"to repair your television" is an infinitive of purpose. It tells why something (the sending in this case) is done.

You can also say "I sent you a technician in order to repair your television". It means the same thing.
___________

<<He is a technician to repair your television.>>

Impossible. As explained above, "to repair your television" does not tell us what kind of technician he is. It is not a modifier of the word "technician". It is an infinitive of purpose; it tells why the action of the main clause happens. But the main clause here has no action. It's just "He is a technician". It's not a question of trying to explain the purpose of his being a technician. It makes no sense to ask "Why is he a technician?" and have the answer "In order to repair your television".

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

<<I sent you a file to copy.>>

This can be interpreted in a similar way. Why did I send you a file? So that you could copy it (the file). But here, unlike in the 'technician' case, there is a reference back to the preceding noun (file). This brings the infinitive into a closer relationship with the noun file, and it becomes more like a modifier of file.

<<It is a file to copy.>>

Here the meaning of the infinitive is similar. It can mean It is a file that you can copy or It is a file that you must copy or It is a file that you should copy or It is a file that someone can copy or It is a file that someone must copy or It is a file that someone should copy. The exact shade of meaning is variable, and it depends on context.

<<It is a file to be copied.>>

The use of to be makes this more of a command. It means that someone (or 'you') must or will copy the file, not merely that someone (or 'you') should or can copy it.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Before processing can begin, the part of the XML document with the information to be copied to the output must be selected with a XPath expression.

Before processing can begin, the part of the XML document with the information to copy to the output must be selected with a XPath expression.

The second version is not likely to be used.
Here to be copied means that is going to be copied (by someone) or that is intended to be copied (by someone).

the information that is intended/going to be copied by someone to the output

is reduced to

the information to be copied to the output.
__________

This is common in instructions when the writer is talking about some element that is going to be processed in some way. It is a way of talking about things that will take shape in the future.

The report to be written must be well organized.
The names to be listed should be alphabetized first.
Tin cans and rubber bands are not among the materials to be collected.
The parts to be painted have not yet arrived.
Later we will determine the methods to be used.

These refer to the report which is going to be written, the names which are going to be listed, and so on. It would not be as common to write the report to write, the names to list, and so on, when referring to something that was going to be done, that is something intended for the future. Sometimes, however, you will notice that some people do write them that way (with the same meaning).

CJ

Yoyoimut · Answer

Thank you very much for these replies.

I am trying to diggest your explanation.

report to save or report to be save, which is correct?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions