How difficult was that decision to make vs How difficult was it to make that decision? [closed]

Question

1. How difficult was that decision to make?

2. How difficult was it to make that decision?

3. How difficult was that decision to be made?

Are there any differences among the above-mentioned sentences?

Answer 1

People are more likely to ask:

How difficult was that decision?

without adding to make, although it's possible if slightly unusual, as in:

How difficult was that house to build?

It's NOT correct to add to be made. Example 3 is wrong.

Example 2:

How difficult was it to make that decision

is perfectly correct and idiomatic.

Answer 2

Well, these are questions that have been done things to, so let's unwind them first.
First, for convenience' sake, let's just say the answer to all the questions is difficult.
Then

• How difficult was that decision to make?
    is the question form of
  That decision was difficult to make.

• How difficult was it to make that decision?
    is the question form of
  It was difficult to make that decision.
    -- in which the rule of Extraposition has transformed
        this sentence from something like
  (For P) to make that decision was difficult (for P)
        with all the agents deleted, a dummy it subject,
        and the infinitive at the end of the sentence.

Both of those are grammatical, and they mean the same thing, but they have different grammar.

The third question is a different matter altogether. It's ungrammatical.

• *How difficult was that decision to be made?
    is the question form of
  *That decision was difficult to be made, which is also ungrammatical.
      Difficult is a predicate that governs Tough-Movement, which extracts a direct object.
      In this sentence Passive has applied, so decision is the subject of to be made, not its object.