Infinitive or -ing

[Freeguy]

I was looking at Longman dictionary and suddenly I came across this example. [ Paul was left feeling distinctly foolish.]
don't we use infinitive + to after passive voice? I mean what if we used : Paul was left to feel distinctly foolish.?

What's difference between them?

 

[MikeNewYork]

I was looking at Longman dictionary and suddenly I came across this example. [ Paul was left feeling distinctly foolish.]
don't we use infinitive + to after passive voice? I mean what if we used : Paul was left to feel distinctly foolish.?

What's difference between them?

The first, with -ing, is correct and natural. The second is not natural.

 

[Tdol]

don't we use infinitive + to after passive voice?

You can:
I was asked to write a letter.

 

[Freeguy]

What's the topic of this grammar? I mean how we can use -ing after passive voice. Can you give me another example?

 

[bhaisahab]

What's the topic of this grammar? I mean how we can use -ing after passive voice. Can you give me another example?

John was left holding the baby.

 

[Weaver67]

Hello.
If you do not mind, let me give you some more examples:

1) She was left crying;
2) She was left to cry.

Both seem grammatically correct to me.
But there, however subtle, must be a difference. As I see it, the first sentence depicts the state - she had already started to cry when someone left her.
The second one, to my mind, may suggest she had not started to cry when someone left her, but she was perhaps about to do so; the emphasis in this case is on her not getting any help when she needed it - nobody was going to comfort her.

I am not a native speaker, nor an English teacher.

 

[Tdol]

The second one, to my mind, may suggest she had not started to cry when someone left her, but she was perhaps about to do so; the emphasis in this case is on her not getting any help when she needed it - nobody was going to comfort her.

It could be this, but it could also mean that someone saw that she was going to cry and left her in peace to do so. It doesn't have to be uncaring IMO.

 

[Weaver67]

It could be this, but it could also mean that someone saw that she was going to cry and left her in peace to do so. It doesn't have to be uncaring IMO.

No, it doesn't... I agree. This is certainly not the only possible context. I was in haste, trying to come up with something that would be able to fire Freeguy's imagination. I should have used something less strong than the formula "the emphasis is...".