The infinitive after adjectives

UNIT 96  The infinitive after adjectives

A.   Compare these two sentences:

                                                        {A It is difficult to understand him.
Jim doesn't speak very clearly    {B He is difficult to understand.

Sentences A and B have the same meaning. But note that we say "He is difficult to understand." (not He is difficult to understand him.)

You can use the structure in sentence B after difficult/easy/impossible/hard and after a few other adjectives: 

• Your writing is almost impossible to read. (not to read it) (= It is almost impossible to read your writing.)

• Do you think this water is safe to drink? (not to drink it)

• Jill is very interesting to talk to. (not to talk to her)

You can also use this structure with an adjective + noun:

• This is a very difficult question to answer (not to answer it)

• Jill is an interesting person to talk to.

• I enjoyed the soccer game. It was an exciting game to watch.                       

B.   We use the infinitive after the first/the second/the third, etc., and also after the next and the last:

• Who was the first person to reach the South Pole?

• If I have any more news, you'll be the first to know.

• The next plane to arrive at gate 4 will be Flight 61 from Buenos Aires.

• Who was the last person to leave the building last night?

C.   You can use the infinitive after a number of adjectives to say how someone feels about something. For example:

• I was sorry to hear that your father is ill.

•  Was Tom surprised to see you when you visited him?

• I was delighted to get your letter last week.

Other adjectives you can use in this way include:

happy    pleased     disappointed      amazed
glad            sad             relieved          astonished

D.   Note the structure (it is) nice of someone to do something. This structure is possible after a number of adjectives, including:
nice           mean        silly         polite       generous   
kind          stupid       clever    careless      foolish

• It was nice of you to take me to the airport. Thank you very much.

• It was careless of Jack to leave the door unlocked when he went out.

• It's stupid of him to give up his job when he needs the money.

• It was very generous of Ann to lend us the money.