have no problem to do something

[joham]

COLLINS COBUILD USAGE says that we should use the construction of 'have no problem doing something', but not 'have no problem to do something'. I googled on GOOGLEBOOKS, and it turned out more than 40,000 results, like:

They have no problem to live, to work and to interact with those of different
race, culture and language.

Is this construction ok to use?

Thank you in advance.

 

[emsr2d2]

On Google (and presumably on Googlebooks) you can probably find lots of examples of just about anything. However, for me "I have no problem V+ing" is the only natural construction.

 

[5jj]

COLLINS COBUILD USAGE says that we should use the construction of 'have no problem doing something', but not 'have no problem to do something'. I googled on GOOGLEBOOKS, and it turned out more than 40,000 results ...

The far more useful COCA has 379 citations for 'have/had no problem [verb +ing]' and none for 'have/had no problem [to- infinitive]'.

 

[joham]

There are five sentences in the COCA with the construction of 'have/had no problem to do something'. (I used '[have] no problem to [v*]' to search for it.) So it is not very safe for us ESLs to use the corpora or the GOOGLEBOOKS. We aren't sure when it is reliable. We often have to ask for native speakers' help. Fortunately we can get here to ask for your help:-D.

HAVE NO PROBLEM TO TALK

HAVE NO PROBLEM TO SIT

HAVE NO PROBLEM TO NEGOTIATE

HAVE NO PROBLEM TO HAVE

HAD NO PROBLEM TO IDENTIFY

 

[5jj]

There are five sentences in the COCA with the construction of 'have/had no problem to do something'. (I used '[have] no problem to [v*]' to search for it.) So it is not very safe for us ESLs to use the corpora or the GOOGLEBOOKS. We aren't sure when it is reliable. We often have to ask for native speakers' help. Fortunately we can get here to ask for your help:-D.

You found more than I did, but you found only five; with 379, the -ing is clearly the the form that the majority of speakers/writers use.

COCA is based on a bank of 425 million words. It is extremely reliable if you want to find out what people have actually said and written, far more reliable than individual native speakers.