All I can do is to tell her not to go out during the weekend.
All I can do is tell her not to go out during the weekend.
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2The infinitival marker "to" is optional in this kind of clause, i.e. one where the subject NP contains "do" in a relative clause. – BillJ Nov 05 '20 at 17:59
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@BillJ I'm not sure if I've understood your message. Are both sentences correct? – Denver Nov 05 '20 at 18:02
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Yes, both sentences are fine. The "to" is optional here. – BillJ Nov 05 '20 at 18:05
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3Does this answer your question? “All you have to do is read” vs. “All you have to do is to read” – Laurel Nov 05 '20 at 19:04
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@Laurel The link you provided is useless. It doesn't even mention the fact that this is a predicative complement in a reversible specifying construction, nor that the bare infinitival is restricted to cases where the subject contains "do" in a relative clause, and the "to" can optionally be added. – BillJ Nov 06 '20 at 07:52
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All I can do is [tell her not to go out during the weekend].
The bracketed element is a predicative complement of "be" in a reversible specifying construction, where the complement can be a to- infinitival or a bare infinitival (or a gerund participial)
Note, though, that the bare infinitival is restricted to cases where the subject noun phrase contains "do" in a relative clause, as it does here.
"To" can optionally be added here (All I can do is to tell ...)
BillJ
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