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Langtraveler Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
'to be' modification
Hello.
I'm confused about the usage of 'to' or 'to be' to modify something.
I've known that... (although I don't know why one is correct and the other is not)
- Russian is a hard to master. (O)
- Russian is a hard to be mastered. (X)
- Russian is a language hard to master. (O)
- Russian is a language hard to be mastered. (X)
- That's a mistake easy to make. (O)
- That's a mistake easy to be made. (X)
However, I've also seen some sentences which looks similar but adapts a different rule like...
- The lesson to be learnt is that one should avoid making mistakes. (O)
At first, I thought the right upper sentence (the lesson to be learnt) is unnatural, although it seems gramatically right because of the very first examples(saying a language hard to be master is incorrect).
But the sentence is written by a native speaker so now I'm confused.
Would you explain this and teach when I can use 'to be' modification and when I cannot?
Thank you in advance.
I'm confused about the usage of 'to' or 'to be' to modify something.
I've known that... (although I don't know why one is correct and the other is not)
- Russian is a hard to master. (O)
- Russian is a hard to be mastered. (X)
- Russian is a language hard to master. (O)
- Russian is a language hard to be mastered. (X)
- That's a mistake easy to make. (O)
- That's a mistake easy to be made. (X)
However, I've also seen some sentences which looks similar but adapts a different rule like...
- The lesson to be learnt is that one should avoid making mistakes. (O)
At first, I thought the right upper sentence (the lesson to be learnt) is unnatural, although it seems gramatically right because of the very first examples(saying a language hard to be master is incorrect).
But the sentence is written by a native speaker so now I'm confused.
Would you explain this and teach when I can use 'to be' modification and when I cannot?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
Dear Langtraveler Your difficulty is with the use of passive tenses. g. g.
- Dear Langtraveler Your difficulty is with the use of passive tenses.
- g.
- g.
- to be spoken.
- g.
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2 Answers
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Dear Langtraveler
Your difficulty is with the use of passive tenses. The basic construction which you are rephrasing in your sentences is :
it is + adjective + infinitive
e.g. it is easy to speak English
it is necessary to read this quickly
it is possible to learn Russian from a teacher
These constructions never take a passive infinitive e.g. to be spoke
Your difficulty is with the use of passive tenses. The basic construction which you are rephrasing in your sentences is :
it is + adjective + infinitive
e.g. it is easy to speak English
it is necessary to read this quickly
it is possible to learn Russian from a teacher
These constructions never take a passive infinitive e.g. to be spoke
00
Thank you very much, Michael.
It really helps me and your explanation is clear!
It really helps me and your explanation is clear!
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