What should follow after TO BE here?

Question

The problem is that it is not clear what should be used after this verb. I can't come up with any logic (rules) which would help me prevent making mistakes. If you see any logic here - please reveal it for learners.

1) All I do is drink (a bare infinitive, ~~infinitive with to, gerund~~)

2) My task was to watch/watching after her.(~~a bare infinitive,~~ infinitive with to, gerund)

3) All you need to remember is watching after her.(~~a bare infinitive, infinitive with to~~, gerund)

4) What we hope to accomplish is to point out the abuse.(~~a bare infinitive~~, infinitive with to, ~~gerund~~)

How do I know when I should use a bare infinitive, an infinitive with to or the gerund after to be? I don't see how.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

All ... and What ... clauses.

With forms of do:

All I do is drink.
All he does is drink.
All they do is play cards.
All they did was play cards.
What they did was drink.
What he does is drink.
What we do is play cards.

All of those above with the bare infinitive can also be written with the 'to' included, e.g., What we do is to play cards.

Except doing:

All we're doing is playing cards.
What they were doing is drinking.
____

Note the construction inside the All ... or What ... clause, and how the expression after the linking verb continues it:

All you need to remember is to watch over her. Remember to watch. (not watching, as you had it)
What I forgot was to add the sauce. Forget to add.
All he objects to is going there alone. Object to going.
What he wanted to avoid was hurting their feelings. Avoid hurting.

This next one is a little more complex. Here 'to point out' doesn't continue 'to accomplish'; it replaces it.
What we hope to accomplish is to point out the abuse. Hope to accomplish > Hope to point out.
___________________

Without an All ... or What clause, the expression after the linking verb is somewhat more flexible.

My task was [to watch / watching] after her.

The -ing form can't be used, however, when there is a chance of taking it as part of a continuous tense, so the infinitive is probably better in the general case.

My task as a spy was to confuse the enemy doesn't necessarily mean the same as My task as a spy was confusing the enemy.

CJ

Ticce · Answer

I have finally realized what I need to ask. There are three points for now.

1) Remember with the gerund.
2) What we hope to accomplish - case.
3) The -ing form can't be used, however....

I

I have come across a few sentences where, it seems to me, we have the verb remember followed by the gerund AND it has the meaning of a future action, in my opinion.

1) ... The second thing you need to pay attention to is that the watering places and the feeders are positioned in the right places and they're clean.......The last basic thing to remember is collecting the eggs.
2) Level 6: in order to qualify for the 45% rakeback, the magic number to remember is collecting 16000 VIP points within a period of 1 month.
3) The last thing to remember is doing what has to be done to make it so there is more money coming in than there is going out of the household.

Ticce · Answer

II

2) What we hope to accomplish - case.

What we hope to accomplish is to point out the abuse.

How do we know that we need to connect the infinitive with hope but accomplish?

III

3) The -ing form can't be used, however....

At first you said it can't be used, but then you give an example with the gerund. So, how am I to get it?

My task as a spy was to confuse the enemy

doesn't necessarily mean the same as

My task as a spy was confusing the enemy.

I take it as the gerund is possible. But it makes me wonder, then

a) Why did you say at first that it can't be used?
b) What is the difference between /a spy was to confuse/ and /was confusing/

PS: I highly appreciate your help and I want to tell you that you definitely have a talent to explain things.

CalifJim · Answer

TicceI have come across a few sentences where, it seems to me, we have the verb remember followed by the gerund AND it has the meaning of a future action, in my opinion.

Yes. Those three examples certainly have that pattern where remember is used with a gerund that suggests future time. I have to say that, in context, these are understandable. Nevertheless, in the variety of English that I speak, remember with a gerund is used to indicate past time. I remember seeing him = I remember that I saw him. I would have used only the infinitive in those three sentences if I had written them. The thing to remember is to collect the eggs. And so on.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Ticce2) What we hope to accomplish - case.What we hope to accomplish is to point out the abuse.How do we know that we need to connect the infinitive with hope but not with accomplish?

We know this entirely by meaning. You can "hope to point out something" (grammatical). You can't "accomplish to point out something" (ungrammatical).

Recall that 'accomplish' means something like 'do', so this case is similar to the cases I showed you with 'do'.

What we hope to do is to point out ... OK
What we hope to accomplish is to point out ... OK

We say: We hope to point out ...
We don't say: We hope to accomplish to point out ...
We don't say: We hope to do to point out ...

Another near synonym for 'do' is 'achieve', so it works the same way:

What we are trying to do is to attract more buyers to our website.
What we are trying to achieve is to attract more buyers to our website.
What we are trying to accomplish is to attract more buyers to our website.

All of these implicitly contain "trying to attract", not "to do to attract", "to achieve to attract", or "to accomplish to attract".
Any time you have 'do' or one of its synonyms in the what clause, the expression after the linking verb is going to replace it, not add to it.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Ticce3) The -ing form can't be used, however....

At first you said it can't be used, but then you give an example with the gerund.

You have misunderstood what I wrote. The gerund can be used, but I gave specific conditions that tell when the gerund can't be used. Here's what I wrote:

The -ing form can't be used, however, when there is a chance of taking it as part of a continuous tense, so the infinitive is probably better in the general case.

My task as a spy was to confuse the enemy. - My purpose was to confuse the enemy. It was my job to make the enemy confused. This is a plan for the future. This is a description of what my task was supposed to be.

My task as a spy was confusing the enemy. - What I was doing was making the enemy confused. This was actually happening in the past.

Compare:

Infinitive showing a possible future action.

I was (supposed) to pound a nail with a hammer.
I was (supposed) to read a book.

I was (supposed) to confuse the enemy.

-ing form used to create a continuous tense.

I was pounding a nail with a hammer.
I was reading a book.

I was confusing the enemy.

CJ

Ticce · Answer

amendment1

Here are some more things to discuss.
--------------------------------------------
What we hope to do is to point out ... OK

I was about to believe that this was the final stage of the discussion as it shaped a certain logic in my mind. But, I recalled a sentence from a song by Depeche Mode, “All I wonna do is see you” = “All I want to do is to see you.”
I have googled for it and ……..

All I want to do is be more like me.
All I want to do is play football and race cars.
All I want to do is love you.

I compared

”All I want to do is be more like me.” WITH ” What we hope to do is to point out.”

According to the logic you have found in these sentence

What we hope to do is to point out ...
What we hope to accomplish is to point out ...
What we are trying to do is to attract more buyers to our website.
What we are trying to achieve is to attract more buyers to our website

we are supposed to say

All I want to do it TO SEE you.

Seems like it breaks the rule I was about to establish in my mind.

CalifJim · Answer

Both are correct.

All I want to do is see you. / All I want to do is to see you.

The form without to is less formal and probably more commonly used.

CJ

Marold · Answer

CalifJim, I just cannot express myself after this fantastic and terrific article!

In the past hour I've read 2 articles that were so clear, coherent, understandable, lucidand finally I got a firm grasp of the two matters! I understood every word in every post you wrote about these issues! I couldn't help myself not giving you so many likes!

second link:

Your knack for explaining things is unbeliavable. It is literally your forte! (Up to now all the hardest grammar structures have been explained by far best by you, to be honest!)

Thanks again!

Marold · Answer

CalifJimWhat they were doing is drinking.

The only thing that has somewhat taken me aback was this sentence, where you may have possibly mistyped.

=> "What they were doing was drinking."

Could you, please, confirm it or is it me, who is mistaken again?

Thanks a lot in advance.

What should follow after TO BE here?

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