To Be

Hi, Grammar Man,

@Former Member posted:

The Hunt (movie) is as much a thriller as it is the indictment of the failure of the public to be reasonable.

What does "to be" mean here and why did it use here?

My assumes " The Hunt (movie) is as much a thriller as it is the indictment of the failure of the public that it was reasonable. Correct??

Your assumption is incorrect.

There are nouns that are complementized by infinitives because the related verb  or adjective also takes an infinitive:

- The public fails to be reasonable ⇒ the failure of the public to be reasonable
- The public is able to be reasonable ⇒ the ability of the public to be reasonable

Dear Sir, can we say like this "The Hunt (movie) is as much a thriller as it is the indictment of the failure of the public is reasonable."

Instead of TO BE

@Former Member posted:

The Hunt (movie) is as much a thriller as it is the indictment of the failure of the public to be reasonable.

What does "to be" mean here and why did it use here?

My assumes " The Hunt (movie) is as much a thriller as it is the indictment of the failure of the public that it was reasonable. Correct??

Hi, Grammar Man—Are you quoting from the newspaper called The Indian Express? Please visit our Guidelines page. All quotations must be put in quotation marks at this website, and the source of the quotation must be given.

@Former Member posted:

Dear Sir, can we say like this "The Hunt (movie) is as much a thriller as it is the indictment of the failure of the public is reasonable."

Instead of TO BE

That sentence is totally ungrammatical. To expand on Gustavo's explanation, the noun phrase "failure to be reasonable" relates to the verb phrase "fail to be reasonable." The failure is NOT being asserted to be reasonable!