Adjectives followed by an infinitive B
Many adjectives can be followed by an infinitive to say how people feel, eg
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Are you ready to begin?
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They were keen to see me.
Note the structure ‘it is nice of someone to do something’ eg
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It was nice of her to bring a picnic.
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It was careless of me to leave the car unlocked.
We use the infinitive of a verb after ‘the first / second / third….. etc and also after the next / the last:
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He was the first person to be interviewed this morning.
She was the fifth person to ‘phone us today.
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You are the last person to tell me what to do.
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‘The next train to arrive at platform 3 is the 10.00 for Brighton.’
1. [Match]
Can you join the halves using these structures?
(Notes
Adjectives which can be used in the same way in the structure ‘it is (not) / (was (not) / had (not) been / will (not) be / would (not)be / would (not) have been etc) nice of someone to do something’ include:
intelligent
stupid
silly
considerate
foolish
right
kind
clever
nice
kind
mean
typical
sensible
generous
polite
(un)reasonable
wrong
For example: It is considerate of John not to ask us to meet him at the station.)
Answers for Quiz [1].
- 1. an expensive rent. (correct)
- 2. person we expected to see here. (correct)
- 3. lift. (correct)
- 4. expect you to lend her that much money. (correct)
- 5. of tea. (correct)
- 6. explanation, I consider. (correct)
- 7. of Anna not to arrive in time to catch the coach. (correct)
- 8. his train left. (correct)
- 9. some time. (correct)
- 10. surprised to see me? (correct)
- 11. late-running Edinburgh train. (correct)
- 12. had happened. (correct)