the use of to + verb

[manhhiep2509]

Hi.

(1) "John moved to the city to find job"
(2) "The house is too small to be bought by the big family.
(3) "The house is too old for Ann to live in"

I see that "to find job" and "to be bought" refer to the subject of (1) and (2) , but "to live in" does not refer to the subject of (3) but "Ann".

Is there any rule about which noun in the sentence the phrase "to + verb" refer to?

Or do I have to figure out which noun the phrase refer to through the meaning of the sentence?

Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

Hi.

(1) "John moved to the city to find job"
(2) "The house is too small to be bought by the big family.
(3) "The house is too old for Ann to live in"

In some instances, "to + verb" can describe a noun. E.g., Scientists are looking for new ways to cure cancer --> "to cure cancer" describes "ways".

In most instances, though -- including your first two examples above -- "to + verb" describes the entire clause (subject + action) before it. It's not accurate to say that "to + verb" just describes the subject, since it's not an actual attribute of the subject; it's the purpose of the action.

In any case, you'll have to use common sense to tell what is being described.
This should not be news, of course. Even in the case of modifiers that only work in one way, you still need to use common sense to tell whether the modifier is being used correctly. (E.g., if "which" follows a noun, you still have to check whether it's the right noun.)