Why 'to be' ? Is it really necessary?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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I found this sentence in a dictionary:

  • I find many aspects of his proposal to be inadequate.

Why ‘to be’?

Please help me out with this one. @Alan, @Anglophile, @Torsten, @Arinker, @NearlyNapping

Thanks in advance.

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My first reaction is that it sounds very awkward. There seems little point in using the infinitive instead of the obvious indicative. In other words it is unnecessary.

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It has the same meaning either way. However, it simplifies the sentence to leave it out.

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Dear, dear Alan,

Thank you for your answer, but is there something wrong with you? I don’t want to critize you, but look at your answer: unneccary. Shouldn’t it be unnecessary? Making these mistakes is not like you!!! Ok, we don’t know each other, but I happen to care a great deal about you, because you’ve always been the best teacher.

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Thank you very much, Dan.

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Hi Masme
Thanks for pointing out my wonky spelling. OOOPS

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7

Why “I find”?
“I find it to be …” is a bit of an old fashioned phrase, though it’s still used.
You may want to consider changing “I find” as well.

“I think many aspects of his proposal are inadequate.”

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You’re welcome, Alan. I just found it so strange. I’m happy to see that everything is OK with you.

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9

I still use it fairly often.

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@Alan, I’m glad to see you here occasionally. Hope you are fine.

Let me be clear about this: does the verb ‘consider’ take ‘as’ or ‘to be’?

  1. He is considered a good teacher.
  2. He is considered as a good teacher.
  3. He is considered to be a good teacher.

I have seen the three variants, though!

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Dear @Alan, I have copied your answer here for the benefit of others. Thank you for the clarification.

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I agree with this. “Considered as” feels a bit awkward to me.

He is considered to be a good teacher.
casual/conversational

He is considered to be a good teacher.
Same as above but more wordy

He is regarded as a good teacher.
This is more elegant. It also seems like higher praise than the others. Maybe because the word “regard” usually has a positive connotation.

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In fact, the question raised was whether we could use ‘considered as’.
I was not in favour of it, so I said it could be ‘considered to be’ or ‘considered’. The usage is very common here but I always correct my students and friends.
Meanwhile, I just thought I should get the correct usage confirmed.

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