[Grammar] to be the first cut down

[Silverobama]

Hi.

The more one stands above the rest, the more likely it is to be the first cut down.

I don't understand the grammar rules here. "Cut down" could be a noun but if it's a verb, it should be "the first to be cut down".

Would you please explain this to me?


Source: Personal notebook of sentences with unknown origins.

 

[Silverobama]

The more one stands above the rest, the more likely he is to be the first cut down.

If I change "it" to he", I think the sentence is correct. But someone might ask why not "she is" but "he is".

How can I improve the sentence to make it correct?

 

[GoesStation]

The sentence is incorrect. Note the mismatch of pronouns.

If that fault were corrected,the sentence would be OK. 'Cut' is a third form (past participle). 'To be' is possible but not essential.

If I change "it" to he", I think the sentence is correct. But someone might ask why not "she is" but "he is".

How can I improve the sentence to make it correct?

Lack of context makes this tricky. I don't find the original sentence ungrammatical, but it's rather odd. "One" could mean one tree, for example; if so, the later pronoun "it" is fine. You could grammatically replace it with he, she, he or she or, to many writers today, they.

 

[Silverobama]

Since this sentence is also from the notebook from 2009-2010. I took a look and found that the sentence was first appeared on WR. At that time I didn't write the source but now I do.

I'm sorry for this. Next time I'll try to search on both forums and see if I can find what I want.

And yes, the thread was about trees and wind.