Page 142 - English Grammar in Use

Unit
65 Adjective + to …

A hard to understand, interesting to talk to etc.
Compare sentences (a) and (b):
⎫ (a) It is hard to understand him .
James doesn’t speak clearly. ⎪ ⎬
⎪
⎭ (b) He is hard to understand.
Sentences (a) and (b) have the same meaning. Note that we say:
He is hard to understand. (not He is hard to understand him)

We use other adjectives in the same way. For example:
easy nice safe cheap exciting impossible
difficult good dangerous expensive interesting
Do you think it is safe to drink this water?
Do you think this water is safe to drink? (not to drink it)
The exam questions were very hard. It was impossible to answer them.
The exam questions were very hard. They were impossible to answer.
(not to answer them)
Nicola has lots of interesting ideas. It’s interesting to talk to her.
Nicola is interesting to talk to. (not to talk to her)
We also use this structure with adjective + noun:
This is a difficult question to answer. (not to answer it)

B nice of (you) to …
We say ‘It’s nice of somebody to …’ :
It was nice of you to take me to the airport. Thank you very much.
We use other adjectives in the same way. For example:
kind generous careless silly stupid inconsiderate unfair typical
It’s silly of Ruth to give up her job when she needs the money.
I think it was unfair of him to criticise me.

C sorry to … / surprised to … etc.
You can use adjective + to … to say how somebody reacts to something:
I’m sorry to hear that your mother isn’t well.
We use other adjectives in the same way. For example:
glad pleased relieved surprised amazed sad disappointed

Was Julia surprised to see you?
It was a long and tiring journey. We were glad to get home.

D You can use to … after the next / the last / the only / the first / the second (etc.):
The next train to arrive at platform 4 will be the 10.50 to Liverpool.
Everybody was late except me. I was the only one to arrive on time.
If I have any more news, you will be the first to know. (= the first person to know.)

E You can say that something is sure/likely/bound to happen:
Carla is a very good student. She’s bound to pass the exam. (= she is sure to pass)
It’s possible I’ll win the lottery one day, but it’s not likely to happen. (= it’s not probable)

130 afraid/interested/sorry ➜ Unit 66 it … ➜ Unit 84C enough and too + adjective ➜ Unit 103