essential for

[AirbusA321]

Which of these are correct?

1 A solid defense is essential to win championships.
2 A solid defense is essential to winning championships.
3 A solid defense is essential for win championships.
4 A solid defense is essential for winning championships.
5 A solid defense is essential for us to win championships.
6 A solid defense is essential to us for winning championships.
7 A solid defense is essential for championships to be won by us.

 

[GoesStation]

Which of these are correct?

1 A solid defense is essential to win championships.:tick: This is just barely acceptable.
2 A solid defense is essential to winning championships.:tick:
3 A solid defense is essential for win championships.:cross:
4 A solid defense is essential for winning championships.:tick:
5 A solid defense is essential for us to win championships.:tick:
6 A solid defense is essential to us for winning championships.:tick:
7 A solid defense is essential for championships to be won by us.:cross:

While the last could possibly be tortured into comprehensibility, a point comes where it's not worth the effort.

 

[andrewg927]

7 is poorly constructed but technically not wrong.

 

[AirbusA321]

What you mean with "tortured into comprehensibility"?

 

[Tdol]

You could force a context where it might not be wrong, but it's probably not worth the effort.

 

[GoesStation]

What do you mean by [strike]with[/strike] "tortured into comprehensibility"?

Tdol expressed my intended meaning in post #5. Some teachers of English as a second language spend a lot of time teaching how to convert sentences between the active and the passive voice. Sentence number 7 illustrates how poor the results can be.

 

[andrewg927]

What you mean with "tortured into comprehensibility"?

It is barely comprehensible.