3

In each of the following sets of sentences, are both of the sentences grammatically sound? Otherwise which is the correct sentence?

1(a) The system failed to report the amount of goods to export.
1(b) The system failed to report the amount of goods to be exported.

2(a) The management asks to control the funds to request from the department.
2(b) The management asks to control the funds to be requested from the department.

3(a) We should limit the number of records to display on screen.
3(b) We should limit the number of records to be displayed on screen.

LawrenceC
  • 36,836
  • 27
  • 81
user223
  • 31
  • 2
  • I think this is a really good question, and I wish I could give a better answer for it! Usually, both versions are correct and mean approximately the same thing. Except for 2(a), which looks wrong to me...but I can't explain exactly why that one's wrong and 1(a) and 3(a) look fine! There's a related discussion here: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/188763/what-s-the-difference-between-to-verb-and-to-be-verbed - but it doesn't give a very satisfying answer. – stangdon May 03 '16 at 19:33
  • Hi stangdon. Thanks for your reply and the link. It's good to know 1(a) and 3(a) look fine to you. I tended to use the form noun + "to be" + past participle but found it verbose sometimes, so when I encountered the other form, I was thinking whether it was correct and was exactly how native speakers would speak. – user223 May 05 '16 at 12:08
  • I think this answer would be helpful http://ell.stackexchange.com/a/46339/3463 – Man_From_India Jul 05 '16 at 05:03

2 Answers2

1

A question much similar to this was asked on the English Stack Exchange. Here was their answer:

The first phrase has an active infinitive, and the second is a passive infinitive. They have virtually no differences in meaning (the one slight difference being that the first one implies that you do not have to do something, while the latter implies that you do not have to have something done to you), and they are completely interchangeable.

Ethan Leyden
  • 173
  • 4
0

Verbs in English can be active or passive. Passive verbs are expressed with a form of to be followed by the past participle form of the verb.

Pretty much all tenses and aspects can work in active or passive form.

So to X is the infinitive, and to be X'ed is the passive form of the infinitive.

I didn't want to drive to the store.

I didn't want to be driven to the store by anyone.

Why use passive voice? Passive voice can be used to deflect attention from who is doing something, or express an action when we really don't know, don't care, or want to say who is doing something. It can also change the "direction" of a verb in the sense of who is doing what to whom.

The car was destroyed. (We don't want to say who did it, or it doesn't matter who did it.)

The car was destroyed by an employee. (Putting focus on the event rather than who did it.)

An employee destroyed the car (Sounds more like we are blaming the employee here.)

The management asks to control the funds to request from the department. (Management wants to control what we ask to others.)

The management asks to control the funds to be requested from the department. (Management wants to control what others ask to us.)

LawrenceC
  • 36,836
  • 27
  • 81