Can I omit "to be" in passive infinitive?

Question

For example,

It's fine for the streets to be winding and the street network varied.
(in this case, to be is repeated in both clauses so it's okay to omit to be in second clause)
It's fine for the streets to wind and the street network varied.
(But, when first infinitive is active and second is passive, can I still omit to be?
I feel I should put be before varied )

Waiting for your professional advice. Thank you.

Yes. This is an example of the rule of Conjunction Reduction, which deletes repeated material in conjoined clauses. Notice that it's fine for has been deleted, like to be, from the original compound sentence It's fine for the streets to be winding and it's fine for the street network to be varied. — John Lawler, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 3:24
Could you take a look at it again? First one says "to be winding" and second is "to wind". So first one seems fine to me because like you said to be is repeated, but the second one seems wrong because it's conjoined of active and passive. I feel "be" shouldn't be removed. Is that right? — Olivia Kim, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 4:45
my question was how to make "varied" part right when it's "to wind" — Olivia Kim, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 4:58
In the second example, use It's fine for the streets to wind and the street network vary. — Davo, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 12:51
The second sentence is ungrammatical, since the first clause doesn't contain to be and therefore it isn't deletable in the second clause by Conjunction Reduction, which only deletes repeated material. The second sentence should end ..and the street network to be varied. Note that the infinitive complementizer for is still deletable, however. — John Lawler, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 15:46

Geshode · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-20 02:47:46Z

1

Your first example should be:

It's fine for the streets to be winding and for the street network to be varied.

The second "to be" could be omitted, if the associated noun is the same. For example:

It's fine for the streets to be winding and varied.

Your second example should have the "to be":

It's fine for the streets to wind and for the street network to be varied.

But generally this mix sounds a little off. So, you should prefer to not use a mix.

answered Dec 20, 2017 at 2:39

Geshode

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