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In a sentence like this:

I did not find it [to be] ...

1) hard

2) anything hard

3) hard to do

4) anything hard to do

5) etc.

when is including [to be] necessary, desired, acceptable, not acceptable?

For example, comparing "I did not find it hard to do" vs. "I did not find it to be hard to do" - which one is right? And if both can be right, is the meaning altered by including to be?

Maxim Umansky
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    This is actually addressed in part of John Lawler's answer to Does English allow a zero copula in subordinate clauses?, the section on to be-deletion. I don't think the rare occasions when 'anything' is included drop 'to be' so facilely: ??'I did not find it anything that could be considered harmful.' Of course, 'I did not find it anything [for its dinner, poor dog]' is garden-pathy. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 06 '20 at 14:37
  • Are you asking about the literal text to be, or are you asking about a grammatical conjugation of the verb (I did not find it was* hard)? Note that there is a subtle difference in meaning between those two, so answering that could be important. Can you contrast your example sentences with one where such a verb could not* be inserted without making it ungrammatical, or where you think it does change the meaning? – Jason Bassford Jun 06 '20 at 17:17
  • @ Jason Bassford Actually I was asking about to be specifically. I edited the question to make it unambiguous. – Maxim Umansky Jun 06 '20 at 17:39

1 Answers1

-2

Your choice of example is not the best as

(i) negatives usually confuse the issue,

(ii) “hard” can be the converse of “soft” or “easy”.

(iii) Anything can be a pronoun/noun – (a) 2020 Greybeard EL&U “Have you anything that will open this bottle?” or (b) an adverb *2005 A. J. Bruney Microsoft Office Web Components Black Bk. v. 194 The final data need not look anything similar to the original raw data.

So if we consider instead, “I found it difficult.” and avoid, “anything”:

“I found…” is a close synonym of “My experience was…”

“My experience was…” has to be followed by a content clause, which is a particular type of clause, usually considered to be a noun clause, which may have several functions.

(If “My experience was…” is followed directly by an adjective, then the adjective modifies “experience”, whereas with a content clause, the adjective modifies “it” (or whatever the subject is.))

Thus:

“My experience was that it was difficult,” in which “That it was difficult” is the content clause.

“To find” also takes a content clause but, additionally, may also take a reduced content clause. It is reduced to an adjectival complement. “I found that it was difficult”, reduces to “I found it difficult.”

Meaning

The slightly greater formality of the full version [[that...] to be] can create a small, but perceptible, difference between the two:   “I found that it was difficult” – here, the “finding” could be a professional and objective “finding” e.g.

A: Professor, can we have your opinion of question 7 on the examination for 10-year-old students?”

Prof: “I found that it was difficult. It is advanced for young children. It is the sort of question that I would give to 15-year-olds.” (Obviously the professor himself did not find the question difficult.)

And

“I found it difficult.” – Here, it is more likely to be subjective, e.g.

“John did the job in 2 minutes but I found it difficult.”

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