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Let's bring a sentence here, "You do not know that I love you", and I want to remove a word, "that". When describing this, which is correct to say "that is a word to be removed" or "that is a word to remove"?

"something to remove" vs "something to be removed"

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    Both are correct to me. – user178049 Aug 31 '17 at 14:11
  • It can go both ways, and is an element of my writing that I'm always playing around with. – user30379 Aug 31 '17 at 16:03
  • It can go both ways, and is an element of my writing I'm always playing around with. ;) – user30379 Aug 31 '17 at 16:03
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The difference is that word can be removed is a passive voice structure. But that word to remove sounds grammatically wrong. Instead, I can say, This word is difficult to remove, It's amazing to learn, It's difficult to learn, It's too close to handle.....etc here the to+Vinf. post-modifies the adjective phrase.

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