Why is "for the union dues to be collected" rather than "for the union dues to collect"?

Question

It means that the NUM will have to arrange locally for the union dues to be collected individually.

There are many sentences which are active:

If so, and if we assume that abstract grammatical principles which are universal are part of our biological endowment, then the natural conclusion to reach is that (7) is a principle which is biologically wired into the language faculty, and which thus forms part of our genetic make-up.

Perhaps the first thing to mention is that all the speakers/writers are 'important' people - compare this with the second newspaper story on the strike, below.

If (as Chomsky claims) human beings are biologically endowed with an innate language faculty, an obvious question to ask is what is the nature of the language faculty.

So, why is "for the union dues to be collected" passive?

You seem to have heard the opinion that use of the passive is wrong or suboptimal (making this a duplicate of this question), but that simply isn't true and the passive is useful and valid. It could certainly be changed to e.g. "It means that the NUM will have to arrange locally for someone to collect the union dues" but that is probably worse because it changes focus from the individual collection to other topics. — Stuart F, Nov 07 '23 at 09:44

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 07 '23 at 08:34

2

In all your example sentences, the speaker/writer is reaching the conclusion, mentioning a fact, or asking a question.

The union dues (payments from members) are not collecting anything, they are being collected. There are many passive sentences as well as active ones!

I am waiting for a parcel to be delivered.

I have asked to be notified as soon as he arrives.

answered Nov 07 '23 at 08:34

Kate Bunting

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Is the passive used here because "I" is not the logical subject of 'deliver'? – Mr. Wang Nov 07 '23 at 09:25
The parcel is not delivering anything, the postal service or delivery company are going to deliver it. – Kate Bunting Nov 07 '23 at 09:58
Is it grammatically correct to use them in the passive voice? Namely,to be reached, to be mentioned, to be asked? – Mr. Wang Nov 07 '23 at 11:41
Of course it is. – Kate Bunting Nov 07 '23 at 11:45
I find myself unable to succinctly explain why all of OP's three "infinitive" examples could be validly (albeit it perhaps "awkwardly") replaced by *to be reached, to be mentioned, to be asked. But ...arrange locally for the union dues to collect individually* doesn't seem like just an "awkward" alternative - it's out-and-out invalid. – FumbleFingers Nov 07 '23 at 12:17

Why is "for the union dues to be collected" rather than "for the union dues to collect"?

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