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Hena Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Isn't "to" necessary in this sentence?

Hello everyone!

"The first thing they wanted to do was to show them the mineralogical and botanical collections."

In the sentence above, don't we need that "to" just where I've put it ? 'Cause in this book I've been reading, it is not there and the sentence sounds awkward to me.

Thanks in advance.Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

Hi Hena To is optional in your sentence but since the sentence is quite long, I would keep it. You have a form of to be (was) before the infinitive and to is often omitted in such cases: The first thing we did was [to] call him. "All I Have To Do Is [To] Dream" - An Everly Brothers song CB

— Cool Breeze

  • Hi Hena To is optional in your sentence but since the sentence is quite long, I would keep it.
  • You have a form of to be (was) before the infinitive and to is often omitted in such cases: The first thing we did was [to] call him.
  • "All I Have To Do Is [To] Dream" - An Everly Brothers song CB
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6 Answers
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Hi Hena

To is optional in your sentence but since the sentence is quite long, I would keep it. You have a form of to be (was) before the infinitive and to is often omitted in such cases:

The first thing we did was [to] call him.
"All I Have To Do Is [To] Dream"
- An Everly Brothers song
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Wow, how fast that was and so clear!!!

Thank you very much CB. [F]
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Hello again!

Thank a bunch Calif.Jim for showing me that post.Emotion: smile So it would be grammatically wrong if I said "All she did wa
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So it would be grammatically wrong if I said "All she did was crying alone in her room the whole day." ?
Yes. That would be wrong.

CJ
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Now I got it perfectly! Thank youuuuuu CalifJim.[F]
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