I was wondering if given the formal construction 'be + infinitive' I may do it passive like these:
The president is to be visited by…
or past meaning
He was to be visited (… and he was)
or
He was to have been visited. (… he wasn't)
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tchrist
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Your examples make perfect sense. Are you confused about something? – Connor Harris Apr 03 '17 at 17:19
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Yes, cause I came across a certan kinda passive construction (to be + past parteciple) like this: There's much work to be done but in cases like this one The room is to be painted I saw that the construction is the same of Be+infinitive but actually it's passive. So i was wondering I could create the same kinda construction but used in a different context, as be+infinitive is mainly used in formal writings. Hope i put u across my point – Francis Rick Onorato Apr 03 '17 at 17:22
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This construction often appears as a literal rendering of the Latin gerundive (http://blogs.transparent.com/latin/gerunds-vs-gerundives/), and thus also, I would expect, in English writers who take after Latin models. – Connor Harris Apr 03 '17 at 17:25
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Related. – tchrist Feb 25 '24 at 17:45