What is the difference ?

Question

Hi !What is the difference between these two :Italy is easy to beat .Italy is easy to be beaten .And what about these two : come on in !come in !Thanks very much

Tranquility · Accepted Answer

nathan mckaneItaly is easy to beat .

'to beat' in this sentence means 'to defeat or do better than.

e.g. Simon always beats me at tennis.

nathan mckaneItaly is easy to be beaten .

'to be beaten' is formed using the passive voice.

nathan mckaneAnd what about these two :
come on in !
come in !

Personally, I see no difference between 'to beat' and 'to be beaten'.

Come (on) in. and come on in(to) something mean:

Enter.; Come into this place. (A polite invitation to enter someone's home, office, room, etc. It is more emphatic with on.)

You can use or skip 'on'

Nathan mckane · Answer

Thanks . but I meant their difference regarding thier meaning and grammatical structure :

This food is easy to eat .

This food is easy to be eaten .

Tranquility · Answer

nathan mckaneIt is easy to eat .

means that the process of eating itself is easy. The structure 'to+infinitive verb' is close in meaning to 'eating'.
Both gerunds (verb+ing) and infinitives (to+ infinitive verb) can be nouns, which means they can do just about anything that a noun can do. Although they name things, like other nouns, they normally name activities rather than people or objects.

nathan mckaneIt is easy to be eaten .

as I told you before: 'to+be+past participle' is the passive voice form which means the thing you are talking about is easy for you to eat. Of course the subject in this sentence is absent. You can suppose other subjects than You. so I can transform this sentence into the active voice by saying for example: this apple (it) is easy for me to eat.

Mike in Japan · Answer

Excellent answer.

What is the difference ?

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