Would you show me about "who's to blame"?

Question

I heard and read the sentences below.The moment I read it , I can't see what the underline means.because I think it have to be wriitten "who is to be blamed"so I asked  on the Q/A site of my country.But I can't get the explanation enough to understand.Someone says it's a phrase and just memorise.Would you show me about it?The sentences go:-Optimists think about what they want and how to get it. Pessimists think about what they don't want, their problems                               and who's to blame.

GPY · Accepted Answer

"to blame" is a set phrase that means "responsible (for a problem, error, etc.)".

It's not very obvious even to native speakers how the grammar of it works, so just memorise as a phrase.

GPY · Answer

I should add that "to blame" can also be used as a verb infinitive, in the usual way. For example, "It's easy for everyone to blame me" or "I don't know who to blame". This is grammatically different.

CalifJim · Answer

ljswavewho's to blame

The active infinitive frequently has a passive interpretation in English.

Who is the person to ask? (~ Who should be asked?)
Who is the person to see about this? (~ Who should be seen about this?)
Who is the person to blame? (~ Who should be blamed?)

It's simply an idiomatic turn of phrase to omit "the person" in the expression "who is (the person) to blame".

Pessimists think about ... (the question of) who is (the person) to blame (i.e., the person who should be blamed.)

As already stated above, this situation is unique. I don't believe there are any other verbs that are found in this grammatical pattern; therefore, it's best just to memorize it as a fixed expression.

CJ

GPY · Answer

CalifJimIt's simply an idiomatic turn of phrase to omit "the person" in the expression "who is (the person) to blame".

That's definitely historically correct, is it? I wouldn't even be certain that "blame" is a verb and not a noun. Collins Dictionary lists it under the noun sense, at least:

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/blame#blame_1

AlpheccaStars · Answer

This dictionary lists "to blame" as an idiom.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/blame

CalifJim · Answer

GPYThat's definitely historically correct, is it?

Who knows? I'm taking a pedagogical approach, not a historical one. I believe my derivation is reasonably explanatory whether the missing links I postulate can be found in the language historically or not.

GPYI wouldn't even be certain that "blame" is a verb and not a noun.

It seems to me quite difficult to derive "Who's to blame" from anything that starts with the assumption that "blame" is a noun in that expression. It forces a prepositional reading of "to". It suggests something like "Who is (to be assigned) to (the) blame", which is just too far-fetched for my taste, besides which it's backwards: We want to assign the blame to someone, not assign someone to the blame. Changing to "Who is (deserving of) to (the) blame" brings up the problem of "to". Why substitute "to" for "of"? In short, I am certain that "blame" is a verb here.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

AlpheccaStarsThis dictionary lists "to blame" as an idiom.

Right. That's what we've been saying. Nevertheless, dictionaries don't provide mnemonics for foreign students of English so that they might rationalize and thereby remember idioms as somehow related to standard expressions that are not idioms. I think that's what we can do for students when they ask about such idioms.

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

CalifJimNevertheless, dictionaries don't provide mnemonics for foreign students of English so that they might rationalize and thereby remember idioms as somehow related to standard expressions that are not idioms. I think that's what we can do for students when they ask about such idioms.

I agree. Some idioms are impossible, and others have a somewhat rational explanation..

Would you show me about "who's to blame"?

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