Grammar confusion, why without -ed

Asked Aug 13 '19 at 01:24

Active Aug 13 '19 at 01:24

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I am confused with this sentence

"Convincing evidence to support this theory is hard to obtain"

In my opinion, shouldn't be the "obtain" is "obtained", because the sentence sounds like a passive sentence for me or my understanding might be wrong. Please give some insight.

Thank you

asked Aug 13 '19 at 01:24

winx7

"Obtained" would be incorrect. This is a construction that is used with some adjectives like hard. There is more about it in the comments on this question: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/491340/hard-to-distinguish-or-hard-to-be-distinguished – herisson Aug 13 '19 at 01:34
2

You would not say "to eated" or "to walked". – Hot Licks Aug 13 '19 at 01:39
It's hard to know whether you think it should be "obtained" the simple past or the past participle, as they are the same, but yeah, basically what Hot Licks said. Either would be wrong, "I am happy to did it", "I am happy to done it", both wrong. In these constructions the verb has to stay in its infinitive form, "do". – Zebrafish Aug 13 '19 at 01:45
Another related question: How does the to infinitive work with adjectives like “wrong” and “wise”? – herisson Aug 13 '19 at 01:45

Grammar confusion, why without -ed

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