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why not an infinitive??
Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:29 pm
by adlerjd
A student asked me why the following sentence was not correct, and I have not been able to come up with a good answer (woe to me - how embarrassing) Can anyone help?
"Good infrastructure is important to be a developing country."
What she means is, "Good infrastructure is important in order to be a developing country."
Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:06 pm
by stromfi
Hi Adlerjd,
To be honest, I find both of the sentences awkward for the following two reasons:
1. If a country has good infrastructure, it's usually not labelled as a developing country. "Developing" is a euphamism for "poor" or "relatively poor." So, if you replace "developing" with "poor/relatively poor" in your example sentence, you will see and feel its awkwardness and how paradoxical it is: "Good infrastructure is important to be/in order to be a poor country."
2. One of the functions of infinitive is to express purpose. (See "Purpose of Infinitive' ) You do something to/in order to get somewhere, achieve something, etc. I would find it strange that any country would want to aim at becoming a developing country.
Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 10:17 pm
by sbourque
Better:
Improving infrastructure is important for a developing country.