In this video, we'll be discussing infinitives as subject and infinitives after
adjectives. So just like gerunds can be used as subjects, infinitives can also be
used as subjects.
However, when we want to use an infinitive as a subject, we actually
start the sentence with IT,
so for example "It is easy to learn English." We have the subject IT but IT is
referring to the infinitive phrase at the end of the sentence.
Here's another example: "It takes time to learn a second language." Again we start
the sentence with IT, and we have an infinitive phrase at the end of the
sentence which IT is referring to. "It costs a great deal of money to go to
college." Again, we have IT at the beginning, but it's referring to the infinitive
phrase at the end of the sentence. Some of the verbs that are commonly found in
between IT and the infinitive phrase include appear, be, cost, seem and take, so
for example "It seems important to learn a second language." Again, we have IT as a
subject but it is referring to the infinitive phrase at the end of the
sentence. Some adjectives that are commonly found between IT and an
infinitive phrase include these: hard, easy, difficult, simple, and so on. So, let's
take a look at an example sentence. "It is difficult to learn a new language." Se
have
the subject IT which is referring to the infinitive phrase at the end of the
sentence "It is difficult". We have the adjective "difficult" and right after
"difficult" we have "to learn a new language", the infinitive phrase. So again
the subject and the infinitive phrase are the same thing. In this last form,
this last pattern is very common. For example, if we have this sentence, "It is
easy to learn languages, we have the basic form of IT IS an adjective EASY
followed by an infinitive phrase. Again
IT refers to the infinitive phrase, but with the new pattern which is a very
common pattern used in writing,
we have IT, a verb, an adjective, and then we have this additional prepositional
phrase FOR plus an object, so we can rewrite this sentence.
Let's say we want to know who it's easy for to learn languages, so we have
this sentence, "It is easy for students to learn languages." So notice that we have
"It is easy"
adjective after the adjective we have "for students to learn languages." So again
the prepositional phrase with FOR tells us who it is easy for. Let's take a look at
some common mistakes.
This is probably the most common mistake with infinitives and subjects. This
sentence right here, "People are hard to learn a second language."
This sentence is confusing. We don't know if "people" is the subject or the infinitive
is a subject "to learn a second language."
This sentence is grammatically
incorrect. It doesn't make any sense, so what we do to fix this is we make IT the
subject of the sentence instead of "people", and we come up with the sentence
"It is hard for people to learn a second language."