Martha,
I too found that phrasing odd. Nonetheless, I Googled "concerned to" and found many examples of concerned + to + (verb). Here is definition #4 for concerned from the online Macmillan Dictionary:
[never before noun] giving your attention to something because you think it is important
concerned with:
He’s more concerned with what people think of him than anything else.
concerned to do something:
The government is chiefly concerned to ensure control of the economy.
Here's a quotation attributed to
Abraham Lincoln:
"I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be."
And several headlines such as these:
Dick
On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 3:06 PM, Martha Galphin
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear List Members--
I am concerned about this usage from Daniel Green's The Reading Experience published online:
"Much of Sontag's essay is concerned to break down the opposition between 'style' and 'content,' but . . ."
What do you think of it? (I would have written "concerned with breaking down the opposition between 'style and content,' but . . .")
Is this a British usage?
Thank you.
Martha
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