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My question is that whether the below sentences have the same meaning ?

  1. I have talent enough to make people believe I am something else.

  2. I have talent enough for people to believe I am something else.

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  • Why did you say "subject infinity" in your title?
    – Ben Kovitz
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 4:49
  • Actually, there is an infinitive (believe) in both your sentences. So the distinction in your title is confusing.
    – oerkelens
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 8:46
  • Is this also correct ? I have talent enough to make it for people to believe I am something else.
    – Marek
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 10:45
  • @marek If you edit that last comment into your question, I'll give you a full answer about the grammar! :-)
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 12:07

3 Answers 3

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They are very similar, but there is a slight difference in the act of making people believe something versus them just believing it with no intervention.

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The first construction can easily be taken to mean that your talent is specifically in fooling people. "talent...to make people believe"

The second construction has no such implication; it leaves it open to conjecture as to what kind of talent you might have. For example, you might be a writer who also happens to be able to juggle; so people who had only seen you juggle might not think of you as a writer, even though you had no intent of deceiving them.

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I have talent enough to make people believe I am something else.

I have talent enough for people to believe I am something else.

First, though it's a bit common to use enough after the nouns time and fool, it is old-fashioned to use enough after other nouns. Its normal place is before a noun or after an adjective.

Second, both the sentences have the same meaning, with a slight difference. The first sentence means that because you are talented enough people believe you are something else when you force them to do so. On the other hand, the second sentence means that because you are talented enough they believe, without being forced or persuaded, you are something else.

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