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You are to blame.

In this accepted answer blame was claimed to be a noun, but in this accepted one, it became a verb. I wonder what its part of speech should be? If it is a noun, why?

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    As the first answer says, to blame is an established phrase which you have to accept as such. It doesn't really matter whether blame is a noun or a verb.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 8:02
  • It is a plain form verb. Note that "to" acts as the infinitival marker, not as a preposition. See James K's answer for more info.
    – BillJ
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 9:20
  • @KateBunting - don't we sometimes use 'to' to link a subject and an action to signify purpose, suitability, applicability, etc, e.g. that cake is to eat, not [to] look at, a hungry tiger is a creature to avoid, that pretty frock is to die for!
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 9:20
  • "To" is a subordinator, a special marker for VPs of infinitival clauses. In the OP's example, the infinitival clause "to blame" is predicative complement of the verb "be".
    – BillJ
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 9:36

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Blame is a verb. It is the infinitive form of the verb marked with the particle "to".

Evidence that it isn't a noun comes from the fact that it couldn't take a determiner: *You are to my blame. *You are to the blame. Moreover it there are sentence patterns with verbs like "eat" that aren't also used as nouns "You are to eat".

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    Given the context, I might (perhaps) worry if someone said 'you are to eat' to me, particularly if I suspected them of being a cannibal.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 9:09
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    Yes, I suspect grammar might be the least of my worries!
    – James K
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 9:25
  • So, "you are to thank" means "you are the person who should be thanked"? Is "you are to thank" also idiomatic?
    – Lerner Zhang
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 9:35
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    @LernerZhang - idiomatic. Who's to thank for the Modern American Thanksgiving Menu?, Ronaldo is to thank for winning the Carabao Cup, You are to thank for a brisk start to the New Year, I truly didn't imagine that selling a house would be this quick and I believe you are to thank for that.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 9:53

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