Learn English – “to delete” vs “to be deleted”

grammarinfinitivespassive-voice

Are both of these correct?

  1. The email address of the Facebook account to delete is user@example.com.

  2. The email address of the Facebook account to be deleted is user@example.

In case #1 is correct, does it mean the same as #2? #2 appears to be a passive voice construction. In case #1 is correct, what type of sentence/clause construction is it or how do we call it?

Best Answer

We call it an Infinitival Relative Clause (hereafter, IRC). Or if you don't want to analyze it as a relative clause, you can just call it a post-modifing infinitival clause. This IRC is so flexible that it can occur with either a passive voice or an active voice. This is explained by Biber et al. in Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English.

Postmodifying to-clauses are more flexible than participle clauses for two reasons: they can occur with both subject and non-subject gaps [...]

  • The e-mail address of the Facebook account to delete
    (This is in the active voice. The object of the verb delete is missing, so this IRC has a non-subject gap.)

  • The e-mail address of the Facebook account to be deleted
    (This is in the passive voice. The subject of the infinitival clause is missing, so this IRC has a subject gap.)