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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Using 'to' after the modal verb 'can'.
Hey guys, I was teaching a lesson yesterday, and while I was listening for mistakes, one of my students said, "You should do everything WHAT you can to help people." I wrote this sentence on the board and asked them if there are any mistakes here. I was expecting them to change 'what' to 'that', but earlier in our course, I told them that you can never use 'to' after a modal verb, as in "I can TO help you tomorrow if you want.", so they decided that TO should be eliminated from the sentence, and it should be written "You should do everything what you can help people.".
I told them that you can use 'to' in this case, because it's a short way of saying, "You should do everything that you can DO to help people.", but I don't know why. Could someone please help me explain this?
Also, when I told them that 'what' should be 'that', "You should do everything THAT you can to help people.", they wanted to know why. I know that if we say 'what' in this way in this sentence that it just makes no sense, and it's obvious to a native speaker, but my students speak Russian and Ukrainian, and they have the same word for 'what' and 'that' in this sense, so it's quite difficult to explain.
Thanks in advance for your help.
~Nate
I told them that you can use 'to' in this case, because it's a short way of saying, "You should do everything that you can DO to help people.", but I don't know why. Could someone please help me explain this?
Also, when I told them that 'what' should be 'that', "You should do everything THAT you can to help people.", they wanted to know why. I know that if we say 'what' in this way in this sentence that it just makes no sense, and it's obvious to a native speaker, but my students speak Russian and Ukrainian, and they have the same word for 'what' and 'that' in this sense, so it's quite difficult to explain.
Thanks in advance for your help.
~Nate
Top answer
The to particle is needed because the infinitive expresses purpose or reason: I'll do all I can to help you . The fact that can precedes to help is of no grammatical significance. The meaning is entirely different if a bare/plain infinitive is used after can: I can help you.
- The to particle is needed because the infinitive expresses purpose or reason: I'll do all I can to help you .
- The fact that can precedes to help is of no grammatical significance.
- The meaning is entirely different if a bare/plain infinitive is used after can: I can help you.
- If the antecedent of a relative pronoun is a pronoun ending in thing, that is the correct relative.
- It may be omitted if it is the object in a defining/restrictive relative clause: He told me everything that interested me.
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6 Answers
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The to particle is needed because the infinitive expresses purpose or reason:
I'll do all I can to help you.
The fact that can precedes to help is of no grammatical significance. The meaning is entirely different if a bare/plain infinitive is used after can:
I can help you.
If the antecedent of a re
I'll do all I can to help you.
The fact that can precedes to help is of no grammatical significance. The meaning is entirely different if a bare/plain infinitive is used after can:
I can help you.
If the antecedent of a re
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Cool BreezeThere is nothing [that] I can do to help him.Please help me with this question.
When I read it first it sounded perfect to be called a non-restrictive clause.
Then it appears as I think that only when it comes to helping him the person feels helpless( nothing), thus is it close to a defining clause?
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My apologies, vsuresh. I was absorbed in receiving a couple of relatives to visit me in an hour and got completely lost in my terms. I have corrected my previous post.
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Thank you, CB.
I'm sorry I unable to understand the change in relation to the question I have asked. Please answer when you find time.
I'm sorry I unable to understand the change in relation to the question I have asked. Please answer when you find time.
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vsureshI'm sorry I unable to understand the change in relation to the question I have asked.I'm afraid I don't understand your question. I just corrected the term I used in my original reply. There's no comma in the relative clauses, which means they are defining.
CB
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