New York City skyscrapers including the Empire State building

Activities: “How to use adjectives with infinitive verbs in English?”

By: Isabel McKay
Associated Articles

These activities are part of our English Grammar series. The skills we are practicing here are covered in our article:

Activity 1: Infinitive complements of adjectives

Add an infinitive complement to the adjective in each sentence that makes sense with each picture:

  • Max was proud

    e.g. Max was proud to have graduated from college.

    A photo of a man in a graduation cap, a suit jacket, and a yellow scarf, sitting outside in a garden.

  • Kat was disappointed

    e.g. Kat was disappointed to lose the game.

    A photo of a woman in a red and black gaming chair. She is leaning back and placing both palms over her face, looking disappointed in herself.

  • Maya is excited

    e.g. Maya is excited to open her present.

    A photo of two women in coats sitting at an outdoor cafe table in front of the front window of a store. On the table sit four gift bags. The woman on the left, with curly hair, is smiling excitedly and is about to open a mint green gift bag.

  • Lia is afraid

    e.g. Lia is afraid to get on the airplane.

    A photo of a young woman taken from behind. She is wearing jean shorts and a dark t-shirt and is looking at an airplane through the window of an airport at dawn.

  • Tod is able

    e.g. Tod is able to do a backflip.

    A photo of a man in a yellow sweatshirt in the middle of doing a hands-free backflip on an autumn day.

  • It would be unwise for you

    e.g. It would be unwise for you to step on that nail.

    A photo of a heavy boot in the middle of taking a step. A long sharp nail is sticking up from the ground, and clearly the person in the boot is about to step on it.

  • It is brave of Sandra

    e.g. It is brave of Sarah to sit on that cliff!

    A photo of a young woman sitting with her legs dangling over the edge of a cliff by the sea at sunset.

Activity 2: Describing Infinitive Actions with Adjectives

Recall that a sentence where an adjective describes an infinitive action can rewritten in three different ways:

  • Starting with “empty it” (e.g. It is easy to forget John.)

  • Starting with an infinitive verb (e.g. To forget John is easy.)

  • Starting with the object of the infinitive verb (e.g. John is easy to forget.)

In each of the boxes below, one version of the sentence is given. Fill in the other two!

    • It is impossible to win this game.

    • To climb this mountain is difficult.

    • My brother is relaxing to talk to.

    • It is amazing to see the Grand Canyon!

    • For students to study for the exam is important

    • This activity is rewarding for students to finish!

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