Which one is correct: built or to be built

Question

Which of these is correct?

1.How do you want your house to be built?
2.How do you want your house built?

I think 1 is correct because it is the house that will be built(someone will build it). But I can also get the same meaning with 2. So I don't know which one should be used. If 2 is correct and means the same, could you please explain the syntax?
And for these ones too:

When it was started to be built....
When it started to be built....

user405662 · Answer

Try the Active Voice first. Would help to see things through clearly—
They started to build the wall a month ago.
Rendered in the Passive Voice, the sentence would read—
The wall was started to be built (by them) a month ago.
It started to be built conveys the absurd notion that the wall started (to be built) of its own accord.
I hope this helps.

Brian Donovan · Answer

Your #3 here awkwardly piles passive on passive. And in #4 the active started seems to attribute active agency, incongruously, to something that within the same sentence is passively to be built. But #1 and #2 are both fine. The difference between them is a matter of ellipsis.

Answered by Brian Donovan on December 26, 2020

Which one is correct: built or to be built

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