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To me, this is the normal usage of the word:

Mary convinced Tom to wear a dress.

How about this one:

Tom nodded, convinced to wear a dress.

I think I've never seen this usage before, so I'm not sure if it's correct.

Note: I searched on Google, but I couldn't find this sentence structure.

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  • Your Google search was far too narrow. There was no need to search for convinced to pick a when what you wanted to find is "convinced to".
    – TimR
    Oct 13, 2018 at 10:32
  • Again, search Google Books, not websites. You will get far more reliable results.
    – TimR
    Oct 13, 2018 at 10:34

1 Answer 1

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It's perfectly correct to use convinced in a past participial clause like that.

You may use it, convinced that it's correct.

It can take an infinitive clause complement or a (sometimes reduced) that-clause complement.

He voted for the guy, convinced (that) it was the right thing to do.

He took the back roads instead of the highway, convinced by a few locals to take that route.

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  • I'm curious, what's the difference between the version with "that" and the version without "that"?
    – wyc
    Oct 13, 2018 at 13:30
  • When convinced of a truth or fact ("it was the right thing"), the thing is usually expressed with a that-clause. When convinced to carry out a course of action ("to take that route"), the action is usually expressed with an infinitival clause.
    – TimR
    Oct 13, 2018 at 13:33

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