1

I was reading a book, and then the following sentence appeared: "Our wisest move at this point is retreat"

But this is not the only case where I've seen this, there are also sentences that start with all and don't have "to" like: "All we can do is hope we can get out of it alive"

Is there some term regarding this, is it something like "that" being removed in relative clauses?

The_Soul_Eater
  • 11
  • 2
  • 1
    To me, retreat is being used as a noun in that first sentence. Where in the second sentence do you feel there should be a that? After the "All" or after the "hope"? – Tbw Dec 20 '23 at 00:29
  • Hum I see. And no, I thought there should be a "to" before "hope", not a "that". – The_Soul_Eater Dec 20 '23 at 00:31
  • @The_Soul_Eater The infinitival clause is a complement of "is", not object. – BillJ Dec 20 '23 at 13:47
  • The essence of this question is, I think, whether there is a predictable pattern governing when to delete and when not to delete the 'to' in sentences such as "Our wisest move at this point is [to] retreat" and "All we can do is [to] hope we can get out of it alive." I think that this is an interesting question, and I'm not aware of any exact duplicate of it, although there are some interesting related questions on the site such as https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3578/what-is-the-correct-way-to-use-infinitive-after-the-verb-help-with-or-without/50035#50035. I have voted to reopen. – Sven Yargs Dec 21 '23 at 06:28
  • 1
    @SvenYargs Where a predicative complement occurs in a reversible specifying construction, the 'rule' is that the bare infinitive is restricted to cases where the subject NP contains do in a relative clause, in which case to can be optionally added: All I did was (to) print out the table of contents. I don;t think that's too difficult a rule to grasp. – BillJ Dec 21 '23 at 07:44

1 Answers1

3

The clauses after the be verbs are predicative complements in a specifying copular construction. The bare infinitival (no to) is only allowed in cases where the subject contains a relative clause, or infinitival, with do. Otherwise, the result is questionable at best, with an -ing clause or a to-infinitival clause preferred.

The best thing we can do now is figure out how we can get out of this alive.

The thing to do now is figure out how we can get out of this alive.

*The best thing now is figure out how we can get out of this alive.

The original sentence is not an example of this, as it doesn't allow a bare infinitival clause.

*Our wisest move at this point is go back.

The reason it works is that retreat is a noun in that construction.

DW256
  • 8,795
  • 1
    I don't see anything wrong with "The best thing we can do now is (to) figure out how we can get out of this alive", where "to" is optional. – BillJ Dec 20 '23 at 12:36
  • @BillJ Neither do I. – DW256 Dec 21 '23 at 01:02
  • In spoken English, of course, you can't see quotation marks—but in writing, we can delineate another set of exceptions along these lines: Our wisest course at this point is "Go back." Here, "Go back" appears as, in effect, a multiple-choice option, and there is no need to preface it with "to" in order for readers to recognize the intended meaning of the whole sentence. Indeed, in this instance, including "to" in the sentence as punctuated wouldn't make sense. – Sven Yargs Dec 21 '23 at 08:15