In most cases, I have seen "Glad to hear it" or "Glad to hear that", which expresses your feelings about smth you have heard or read. Is it ok to write "Glad to hear THIS", responding to some news in a letter received from a penpal? Thank you.
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This answer addresses the same question: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/143773/what-is-the-difference-between-happy-to-hear-that-and-happy-to-hear-this/143865#143865 – Vibhaas Feb 13 '21 at 14:37
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1Does this answer your question? "It" vs. "this". See also “This”, “that” and “it” difference. on English Language Learners. – FumbleFingers Feb 13 '21 at 16:32
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You will find on this page quite a few instances of "I am glad to hear this.", and the form you consider is nothing else than an ellipted version of that; this ellipsis of the subject and verb is usual (albeit colloquial) for this construction (I am < ADJ > to < base form of verb > < completing elements (their total length must be relatively short)>) and for certain adjectives, but not all. It is also used for the third person and for certain adjectives. The adjective "glad" is one of the "permitted" adjectives; therefore, there is no reason not to use this construction for "glad" with any object (any object that makes sense), and in particular with "this".
Examples
- Glad to hear it/this/that/you'll come/it's finished/you say that….
- Happy to see (that) you succeeded (in solving that equation/in convincing your friend/in bringing your brother back home/…)
- Not really happy to buy that but there is no choice.
- Sorry to have to tell you again.
- (Not) Sure to make it to the top.
- Bound to happen.
Adjectives for which it does not sound natural and should be avoided (there are many more than those provided in those examples)
- I am reluctant to do this. /
Reluctant to do this. - I am conscious that is not possible. /
Conscious that is not possible.
LPH
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I see no reason whatsoever for suggesting that I'm reluctant to do this or He's bound to do that are in any way "less idiomatic" than, for example, I'm ready to go or He's happy to help. The link in your answer text just leads to a Google Books query for "glad to hear this", which tells us nothing about which other adjectives besides *glad* are idiomatic in the basic construction TO BE [adjective] [infinitive clause]. And to be honest, I've no idea why you've singled out *reluctant, bound, conscious* as "not sounding natural" here. They're all fine. – FumbleFingers Feb 13 '21 at 16:54
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@FumbleFingers I am not suggesting that it is less idiomatic; I agree, it is not well put: I mean that you can say "I am reluctant to do this." but not "Reluctant to do this." – LPH Feb 13 '21 at 17:26
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oic. You mean it's idiomatic to discard the subject and verb in *Sorry to hear that* and *Happy to help. Which I guess is true, but I certainly can't say the same about your examples Ready to help you* and *Plain to see that he'll fail. On the other hand, I have no particular problem with, say, Bound to happen* in the right context. Not that the OP is asking about deleted subject+verb anyway (I bet he didn't even realise they're missing in his examples! :) – FumbleFingers Feb 13 '21 at 17:33
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@FumbleFingers There are plenty of "Ready to do this" and "Ready to do that" as book titles but there is nothing to be found in dialogue. – LPH Feb 13 '21 at 18:17
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Book titles are not sentences (or "utterances", to focus on what actually matters). Occasionally, someone might discard the subject and verb (Are you) when asking Ready to go?, but that's not a general principle for all similar verbs. – FumbleFingers Feb 14 '21 at 12:02
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@FumbleFingers That's why "ready" has been weeded out from my post (your warning it wouldn't do helping). – LPH Feb 14 '21 at 12:05