to trust or to be trusted?

[Pokemon]

I've seen a lot of sentences like

"He is a man to trust".

Is it possible to say

"He is a man to be trusted" ?

If so, is there any semantic difference?

A similar question:

"This box is too heavy to lift." I know it's correct.
Is it possible to say:
"This box is too heavy to be lifted"?
Any difference in meaning, style, whatever?

[Yuri Yurinov]

Hello, Pokemon,

Maybe in such a context:"The box is lifted (with a help of a rope, for example), and it is too heavy to be lifted (there is a risk that a rope will be torn).

Yuri
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[Kitosdad]

That was an excellent explanation Yuri.

Kitos.
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[Yuri Yurinov]

Thank you, Kitosdad, but you should have told me that there was a mistake in the word 'context'. I wrote 'contekst'. :shock:
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[Pokemon]

Thank you very much, guys. How about the first part of my question - 'a man to trust vs. a man to be trusted"?

[Mayamiko]

to trust means perfectly believe in some one bu to be trusted it means some one perfectly belive in you.to trust is to rest hope in someone but to be trusted means someone rest hope in you.i dont know

[Mayamiko]

i think your second sentence is also right though there are changes

[Cerberus™]

This is a very subtle difference that deserves much explanation, which I, unfortunately, cannot give, because I am not fully aware of the reasons why one would choose one or the other. Just a few remarks.

- A man to trust and a man to be trusted mean nearly the same: a man that you can(/should) trust and a man that can(/should) be trusted (by you).

- A man to be trusted seems to me the more natural choice, though the other one is perfectly fine as well.

- A man to trust may be extended to: a man to trust cheaters, which means a man who is apt to trust cheaters. The fact that this extension completely changes its meaning may be why a man to trust is less common.

- There is a difference between the previous phrase and a box too heavy to lift: too ... to ... is a special pair, similar in meaning to so ... that ...: a box so heavy that it cannot be lifted means the same.

- A box too heavy to lift cannot be extended to a box too heavy to lift a car, because a box cannot lift anything. In addition, only a passive sense of "to lift" can go with "too heavy": being heavy does not generally prevent you from lifting something, it prevents someone else from lifting you. The (however slight) drawback of "a man to trust" therefore does not apply to this phrase.

- A box too heavy to lift is more common, it seems to me the most natural choice, though the other one is also fine.

- A box too heavy to be lifted is unnecessarily longer, perhaps that is why it is less common. I'd say it is mostly used when you add "by someone/something", which doesn't fit the other option as well. The actual passive tense "be lifted" goes more easily with "by".

I short, there is much freedom of choice here. Perhaps someone else knows more about this difference.

[Pokemon]

Thanks a lot, Cerberus. Now I've got a much better idea how to distinguish between these two forms. This problem has been bothering me for quite a long time.

[Pokemon]

Mr BrienOneniMot,
I started this thread and I don't remember asking for any advice on investment, so will you, please, take your f****** spam and get out of here?

[Yuri Yurinov]

What a reply! Maybe those guys will find more decent ways for placing there ads.

With great respect.

Yuri
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