to solve or to be solved

Question

There remain some problems to solve.Can I say...There remain some problems to be solved.Please advise.LC

Pieanne · Accepted Answer

Some problems are still to be solved? (by us, by them... passive voice)

There are still some problems to solve? (active voice: we still have some problems to solve)

BarbaraPA · Answer

Yes, as Pieanne says, "to solve" has an implication that either the speaker or the listener (or both) will be involved in the solving of the problems.

"to be solved" could mean that anyone - speaker, listener, or another party not mentioned - could the the party solving.

J Lewis · Answer

There is a clearer difference with some other verbs:

I heard a noise and looked outside, but there was nothing to be seen.
Please go away, there's nothing to see.

I'm bored. There's nothing to do in this town.
It's an insoluble problem; there's nothing to be done.

I don't know if we can work out a rule for this.

Goodman · Answer

Lcchang
There remain some problems to solve.

Can I say...

There remain some problems to be solved.

Please advise.

LC

In addition to everyone’s comments, here are a few more examples:

1) The accounting issues we have experienced for the past few months have still yet to be solved. (passive voice, used to emphasize the “problems”)

2) We must find a solution to solve / resolve these ongoing problems. (active voice, used to emphasize the subject “we”)

3) The elevator keeps stalling between floors which got to be fixed. (passive for same reason as # 1)

4) The building management must do something to / address /solve / fix the elevator problem. (active for the same reason as # 2)

Lcchang · Answer

Goodman
Lcchang
There remain some problems to solve.

Can I say...

There remain some problems to be solved.

Please advise.

LC

In addition to everyone’s comments, here are a few more examples:

1) The accounting issues we have experienced for the past few months have still yet to be solved. (passive voice, used to emphasize the “problems”)

2) We must find a solution to solve / resolve these ongoing problems. (active voice, used to emphasize the subject “we”)

3) The elevator keeps stalling between floors which got to be fixed. (passive for same reason as # 1)

4) The building management must do something to / address /solve / fix the elevator problem. (active for the same reason as # 2)

Hi Goodman,

I looked over the four sentences you listed. I found that as long as the subject of each sentence is a person, then an active vioce is implemented, whereas a passive vioce is made to the subject of a thing.

1) The accounting issues we have experienced for the past few months have still yet to be solved. (passive voice, used to emphasize the “problems”)

2) We must find a solution to solve / resolve these ongoing problems. (active voice, used to emphasize the subject “we”)

3) The elevator keeps stalling between floors which got to be fixed. (passive for same reason as # 1)

4) The building management must do something to / address /solve / fix the elevator problem. (active for the same reason as # 2)

Let's look back at my sentence:

There remain some problems to solve.

The subject should be some problems. Therefore I wonder if I should use "to be solved".

Still need to get your advice.

LC

Lcchang · Answer

What about...

Some problems remain to solve.

or

Some problems remain to be solved.

Please advise.

LC

J Lewis · Answer

A belated reply to Goodman. You give the following examples:

1) The accounting issues we have experienced for the past few months have still yet to be solved. (passive voice, used to emphasize the “problems”)

2) We must find a solution to solve / resolve these ongoing problems. (active voice, used to emphasize the subject “we”)

3) The elevator keeps stalling between floors which got to be fixed. (passive for same reason as # 1)

4) The building management must do something to / address /solve / fix the elevator problem. (active for the same reason as # 2)
I think none of these are really relevant to the original post, which was about the difference between active and passive inifintives used adjectivally: Problems to solve or to be solved.
# 1 is just a typical passive with omission of the agent. Once you have decided that "accounting issues" is the subject, you can only use the passive.
# 2 a solution to solve problems means a solution in order to solve them. It's the solution that solves, so no passive.
# 3, a bad sentence, maybe a typing mistake. However, here the original problem arises, as you can say there's an elevator to fix or there's an elevator to be fixed.
# 4 again to address must be active as it means in order to address.
I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know, it's just to point out that these are not cases of the subtle difference raised by LC.
In case 3, the repair man might say, "Is there another elevator to fix or can I go home?", concentrating more on what there is for him to do, while the management, concentrating more on the problem, will say "Yes, there's elevator C to be fixed". However, this is hair-splitting and I would tend to use the passive in both cases.

To LC
I prefer Some problems remain to be solved. The active form doesn't sound right.

to solve or to be solved

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