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Mitsuo23 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

All u have to is ask?

Hi,

I sometimes see sentences like "All you have to is ask a question." This is the usage I've never learned. If it goes like "All you have to is to ask a question," that'll make sense to me.
Will anyone please explain what kind of grammar is being used here?

Thank you in advance,
  

Top answer

You need the dummy verb 'do' if another verb is not used. All I want to do is stay home tonight. All I want to eat is pizza tonight.

— Mister Micawber

  • You need the dummy verb 'do' if another verb is not used.
  • All I want to do is stay home tonight.
  • All I want to eat is pizza tonight.
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4 Answers
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You need the dummy verb 'do' if another verb is not used.

All I want to do is stay home tonight.
All I want to eat is pizza tonight.
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hi, thank you for the replay always,

I don't know why I wrote that, but my question didn't make sense to even me.
What I was trying to ask is,

Why these sentences are OK? like:
All you have to do is ask a question.
All I want to do is stay home tonight.

I'd feel comfortable if these were like "to ask a question," or "staying home tonight."

Sorry fo
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All you have to do is ask a question.
All I want to do is stay home tonight.

These are correct and common expressions.
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I know I'm bothering you, so I promise this will be the last and will make my statement clearer.

If I google "is to explain"
I find sentences like:

"The goal of this lecture is to explain how routing between..." or
"My challenge is to explain why Israel is preferred," etc. etc.

And I have to wonder, "when do I need to's?" "what difference do they make?"
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