LONGMAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR PRACTICE

16.8 The to-infinitive or the '-ing' form?

16.4 Adjectives and nouns + to-infinitive

16.4A Adjective + 'to': 'It was kind (of him) to help us' [> LEG I6.26-31, App44]

We can use a to-infinitive after adjectives in a variety of ways, for example:

We use a personal subject (he, she, etc.), or we use it with adjectives like these:

clever, foolish, generous, good, polite, right/wrong, rude, selfish, silly, wicked.

Instead of: He was kind (enough) to help us. She was silly not to buy it.

We can say: It was kind (of him) to help us. It was silly (of her) not to buy it.

We can also say: He was so good/kind (etc.) as to help us.

We use only a personal subject (he, she, it or name) with these adjectives:

afraid, anxious, ashamed, careful, curious, eager, fit, free, frightened, glad, keen, sorry.

John is eager to please. (Not *lt is eager to*) I'm sorry to have troubled you.

We use a personal subject or it, but not of him, etc. (> 1 above) with these adjectives:

agreeable, amusing, boring, difficult, easy, hard, impossible:

John is easy to please. It is easy to please John.

Write: Rewrite the sentence or join the pairs of sentences beginning with the word(s) given.

1 He was foolish. He left the firm.

He was fM^k.M.-d^^./ià^.Ûh^.:

2 You want to ask for more money. You would be stupid if you don't.

You would be

3 Ring me later. Would you be so good?

Would you?

4 Open the window. Would you be good enough?

Would you?

5 He worked out the answer. It was clever of him.

It was

6 They don't take any part in local life. It's silly of them.

It's

7 We can't refuse their invitation. It would look rude.

It would

8 She worked overtime. Wasn't it good of her?

Wasn't it?

9 He's eager. He wants to help us in any way he can.

He's

10 I was careful. I didn't offend them.

I was

16.4B Adjectives with 'too/enough': 'too weak/not strong enough to' [> LEG 16.32]

Study:

l**l

1 Too before an adjective means 'excessively' [> 7.6A, 7.7B]:

He isn't strong. He can't lift it. -» He is too weak to lift it. (Not *very weak to")

2 Enough after an adjective means 'to the necessary degree'. It combines two ideas:

He is strong. He can lift it. -» He's strong enough to lift it.

He is weak. He can't lift it. -* He isn't strong enough to lift it.