Introduction
Adjectives are determiners that can be placed in two different positions within a sentence to modify or describe a person or a thing.
Some adjectives can be followed by the to-infinitive form of verbs to express feelings or reactions.
Form
Adjectives + to-infinitives have this structure:
Adjective + (noun/noun phrase) + to-infinitive + …
The most commonly used adjectives are: clever, difficult, easy, hard, impossible, nice, possible, right, strange, wrong…
Example
- You are clever to stop working there, they don’t pay you enough.
- It is very difficult for me to breathe because it smells horrible.
- It isn’t easy to ride a horse that behaves badly.
- It was really hard to find our way here.
- She found it impossible to learn to play the piano.
- It was nice to see you looking so happy!
- How is it possible to be this tired?
- You were right to say that to him, he shouldn’t talk to you like that.
- It would be strange to see you with short hair.
- He was wrong to think that she ever cared.
Use
We use adjectives followed by to-infinitives to express feelings or reactions.
Summary
We find some adjectives followed by the to-infinitive form of verbs to express feelings or reactions.
The most commonly used adjetives are: clever, difficult, easy, hard, impossible, nice, possible, right, strange, wrong…
The structure is: the adjective (potentially followed by a noun or a noun phrase) followed by a to-infinitive.
For example:
— “It is expensive to buy.” = Expensive can be followed by the to-infinitive form (to buy).
NOTE: Not all adjectives can be followed by the to-infinitive.
Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.