Michael,
I will try again.
This is difficult for me
This is difficult for me (to do)
The book is difficult for me (to read, to buy, to comprehend, etc.)
Jumping is difficult for me (to do).
To jump is difficult for me (to do).
Bipedal saltation is difficult for me (to do)
"Bipedal saltation" is difficult for me (to understand).
No matter how I try to replace the subject (this), it seems that some complement is hiding there. This make me say that the phrase "for me" has to be the subject of that infinitive phrase, whether expressed or not. Not all adjectives take such a complement.
??My jumping is difficult for me (to do). [redundant complement]
His jumping is difficult for me (to condone, etc.).
The kangaroo's bipedal saltation is difficult for me (to explain to you).
No one seems to have responded directly to my former post. Perhaps the possiblity of the analysis as an adverbial adjunct has blinded some grammarians to the above situation. I think we always need to look at other ways to express something to tease out the best syntactic analysis. [I am also sorry that my use of the term "dative" may have led some to think "indirect object."]
Bruce
Michael,
This is my take. Compare your sentence with "This is difficult for me to do." I feel like it is the adjective that is making it possible to add the complement as an infinitive. The subject of an infinitive is often introduced by "for". Similar is the adjective "hard". The meaning seems the same as, "For me to do this is difficult." If I say, "It is time for me to leave," we seem to have a complement on the noun "time". In this case the infinitive doesn't easily allow omission like it did with "difficult" and we can't easily say, "For me to leave is time." The complement with "difficult" seems to be a dative (of interest). This would suggest that the full (and redundant) meaning of my sentence might be, "For me to do this is difficult for me." So it appears that the complement position (dative) is freely taken by an infinitive subject. I believe that this all suggests that the construction is part of the syntax of "difficult".
Bruce
Another quick parsing question: In "This is difficult for me," is the prepositional phrase "for me" modifying the verb "is" of the adjective "for me"?
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