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"Having or showing the ability to think of new projects or new ways of doing things and make them successful".

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/enterprising?q=enterprising

Part of the bold phrase (Infinitive) is it adjective phrase of the ability?

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  • Ys..............
    – Sam
    Oct 8, 2022 at 4:53
  • I do not know, meaning to say I cannot be definite that I am 100% right or even 1% right in this instance. For me "the ability to think of new projects or new ways of doing things and make them successful" is a noun phrase. So is the part "to think of new projects or new ways of doing things and make them successful".
    – banuyayi
    Oct 8, 2022 at 5:41
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    It answers 'what kind of' the noun "the ability"
    – user465429
    Oct 8, 2022 at 5:59
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    It's clearly an infinitival clause, so it cannot be an adjective phrase. The clause is functioning as complement of the noun "ability", whose meaning it expands. The expression, "The ability to think of new projects or new ways of doing things ... " is thus a noun phrase headed by the noun "ability" with the infinitival clause as its complement.
    – BillJ
    Oct 8, 2022 at 7:40
  • @BillJ "Find a friend to help you study. What is it "to help...."? and "This is a good place to start reading.” what is it "to start reading"? both describe the noun that it come after. Similarly To think... describe the noun 'ability'.
    – user465429
    Oct 8, 2022 at 7:42

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Ability is a noun formed from able; if you have an ability, you are able to do something. Be able to is a periphrastic modal auxiliary; it means the same as can:

  • Is he able to do that?
  • Yes, he can certainly do that.

And, like all modals, it takes an infinitive complement, with the infinitive to complementizer in these periphrastic cases.

Nouns like ability that are formed from predicates like able that take infinitive complements can also take infinitive complements, like (to) run a mile in 5 minutes below:

  • He can run a mile in 5 minutes.
  • He is able to run a mile in 5 minutes.
  • He has the ability to run a mile in 5 minutes.

So the boldfaced infinitive clause below

  • the ability to think of stuff

is the complement clause of ability, because it's the infinitive complement of be able, which means can.

Normally only nouns that come from verbs that take complements can take complements themselves; NP complements can be non-finite, like this infinitive, or they can be tensed, like the that-clause complement of the report (because the verb to report takes a that-clause complement):

  • the report that she shot him twice
  • they reported that she shot him twice
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  • Interesting. But how does it explain the acceptability of "It provides an [opportunity to broaden the mind]"?
    – BillJ
    Oct 8, 2022 at 16:57
  • The it is referential, if that's what you're asking about. As for opportunity, it does take an infinitive complement, and there doesn't appear to be a verb that it's derived from. A hole in the fabric; who would have suspected it? Perhaps not all rules are totally regular.
    – John Lawler
    Oct 8, 2022 at 17:24
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    The second bit. I too spotted "the hole in the fabric", as you put it. Damned grammar of ours!
    – BillJ
    Oct 8, 2022 at 17:30

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