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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Can someone please break down this sentence for me？
I am a native English speaker, but I'm puzzled as to the structure of this sentence.
The last thing I want to do is hurt you.
I have a general idea, someone correct me if I'm wrong:
"The last thing I want to do" is acting as the subject here, right?
is is the verb starting the predicate, then hurt you is an infinitive with a dropped "to."
If this is right, and I don't think it is, then why is the to omitted when "hurt you" is the direct object, not the indirect object.
Is it just unnatural, but accepted English?
Thanks a lot guys!
Stefan
The last thing I want to do is hurt you.
I have a general idea, someone correct me if I'm wrong:
"The last thing I want to do" is acting as the subject here, right?
is is the verb starting the predicate, then hurt you is an infinitive with a dropped "to."
If this is right, and I don't think it is, then why is the to omitted when "hurt you" is the direct object, not the indirect object.
Is it just unnatural, but accepted English?
Thanks a lot guys!
Stefan
Top answer
Hi Stefan There are actually a couple of omitted words in your sentence: - The last thing (that) I want to do is (to) hurt you. The second instance of the word "to" has been omitted. It is optional in this case.
- Hi Stefan There are actually a couple of omitted words in your sentence: - The last thing (that) I want to do is (to) hurt you.
- The second instance of the word "to" has been omitted.
- It is optional in this case.
- If the second "to" were used, it would be part of the infinitive the same way "to" is part of the first to-infinitive in the sentence (to do).
- Look at some similar sentences: - I don't want to do that.
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1 Answers
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Hi Stefan
There are actually a couple of omitted words in your sentence:
- The last thing (that) I want to do is (to) hurt you.
The second instance of the word "to" has been omitted. It is optional in this case. If the second "to" were used, it would be part of the infinitive the same way "to" is part of the first to-infinitive in the sentence (to do).
Look at
There are actually a couple of omitted words in your sentence:
- The last thing (that) I want to do is (to) hurt you.
The second instance of the word "to" has been omitted. It is optional in this case. If the second "to" were used, it would be part of the infinitive the same way "to" is part of the first to-infinitive in the sentence (to do).
Look at
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