I want to find more detailed explanation about the following pattern. For me, this grammatical structure sounds special.
- Windows makes it easier for you to install the program.
- You may find it difficult to locate the bug.
Subject + Verb + Object + Adjective + To Infinitive +
Object
Please elaborate as complete as you can how to use this structure.
Best Answer
First of all,
is not a single construction. It is a string that can be the result of a large number of possible derivations.
Second, everything in such constructions depends crucially on what that V is. Not all predicates take infinitive complements, and of those that do, some allow for to mark the infinitive subject, and some don't; some have indirect object and others don't; some allow to to mark the infinitive verb, and others don't, etc.
There are a lot of variations, all depending on the matrix predicate. To see just how many, see here.
As to the two sentences provided,
comes from something like
i.e, there are three clauses here: one has make as its predicate, one has be easier, and the third has install. The middle clause has undergone Extraposition, which produces the dummy it, from
Notice that make takes an infinitive without to (make it work but not *make it to work), and auxiliary be is deleted before stative predicate adjectives (make it tasty but not *make it be tasty). Details, details.
Easy/easier, the predicate of the second clause, takes an infinitive subject complement; if the subject of the infinitive is specified, it must take for.
The second sentence
also has three clauses, and again the second one has a predicate adjective infinitive (to be difficult) with to deleted because it's a complement of find. That clause has also undergone Extraposition from
However, unlike the first sentence, the dummy it from extraposition has been B-Raised from being the subject of (be) difficult, to become the direct object of find. The last clause has lost its subject (for you) by Equi from the subject of find.
This is the kind of problem one encounters when treating grammar as composed of strings of words or word types. Grammar is constructions, not strings, and constructions are almost always governed by predicates. Without knowing the clause and predicates, it's impossible to talk about grammar usefully.