could you help me?

[craterus]

here is a sentence below:

Doctors believe nicotine to be the culprit.

my question is what is the function of "to be" in this sentence? could not I say like this, Doctors believe nicotine is the culprit. in that case why they are used to use "to be"? I really do not understand gramatically...
tahnks in advance..

[TheParser]

here is a sentence below:

Doctors believe nicotine to be the culprit.

my question is what is the function of "to be" in this sentence? could not I say like this, Doctors believe nicotine is the culprit. in that case why they are used to use "to be"? I really do not understand gramatically...
tahnks in advance..

********** NOT A TEACHER **********

Hello, Craterus.

(1) This is how I understand it:

(A) Doctors believe nicotine to be the culprit.

(i) This is a so-called infinitive phrase/clause.

(a) What do doctors believe?

Nicotine to be the culprit. (Nicotine = subject of infinitive)

(B) Doctors believe (that) nicotine is the culprit.

(i) This is a noun clause -- with the same meaning.

Thank you

[ollieacappella]

I'm half a teacher - currently completing initial training course.

********** NOT A TEACHER **********

Hello, Craterus.

(1) This is how I understand it:

(A) Doctors believe nicotine to be the culprit.

(i) This is a so-called infinitive phrase/clause.

(a) What do doctors believe?

Nicotine to be the culprit. (Nicotine = subject of infinitive)

(B) Doctors believe (that) nicotine is the culprit.

(i) This is a noun clause -- with the same meaning.

Thank you

I'm afraid I find your labels - (a), (B), etc. - incredibly confusing! I agree with you, though. craterus, you could say either "Doctors believe nicotine to be the culprit" or "Doctors believe (that) nicotine is the culprit". The difference is that the first one sounds more formal.

[Abstract Idea]

I'm half a teacher - currently completing initial training course.



I'm afraid I find your labels - (a), (B), etc. - incredibly confusing! I agree with you, though. craterus, you could say either "Doctors believe nicotine to be the culprit" or "Doctors believe (that) nicotine is the culprit". The difference is that the first one sounds more formal.

I find TheParser labels incredibly neat and logically organized. He is really "the parser". I and many others here have been learning quite good English by reading his posts.

Thank you too for your contributions ollieacappella, and welcome to UsingEnglish.

[ollieacappella]

I don't doubt the quality of the English in his/her posts! It's just, for example, in this post, what does the (1) signify? There is no (2) so is there any reason to use this? There are also capital letters and lower case letters and even Roman numerals... Anyway, if everybody else understands it, I will shut up! This is only my 11th post - I don't want to make enemies!

[TheParser]

I don't doubt the quality of the English in his/her posts! It's just, for example, in this post, what does the (1) signify? There is no (2) so is there any reason to use this? There are also capital letters and lower case letters and even Roman numerals... Anyway, if everybody else understands it, I will shut up! This is only my 11th post - I don't want to make enemies!

********** NOT A TEACHER **********

Hello, Ollieacappella.

(1) Yes, welcome to usingenglish.com.

(2) Please do NOT "shut up."

(3) We all have posters whom we enjoy reading and those whom

we prefer to bypass -- for whatever reason. Whenever you see

one of my posts, just skip it.

(4) I am just a humble soul whose advice may or may not be

correct. That is why I follow the website's requirement that I

start with a disclaimer: Not A Teacher.

(5) There are some great posters here who will really help you

with your questions.

(6) I am sure that you will be a great teacher.

GOOD LUCK

[ollieacappella]

Hi, TheParser. I didn't at all mean to offend you! Thanks for the welcome and the tips and the encouragement. I hope to see you on this forum more often!