English is my second language, and I have a question about grammar. What is the proper way of phrasing this?
All he ever does is run.
What is correct?
is it:
Al he ever do is run.
All he ever does is runs.
All he ever does is to run.
All he ever do is to run.
Or is it something else? What is the correct way to phrase that?
2007-04-03 17:46:12 · 16 answers · asked by Person 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
"All he ever does is run" is what people normally say but it's not correct for written English. Annie suggested "Running is all he ever does" and that's very good. For me, "All he ever does is running" would do.
2007-04-03 17:51:56 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
To be honest, given the fluid nature of English, I think the gerund example, "All he ever does is running," would sound weird to most lay people even though it is the grammatically proper way of phrasing the sentence. Only elitists really care about that. I'd guess that most successful business people, college professors, and U.S. presidents wouldn't know or care about the difference.
In short, go with your first example. It's still the best.
2007-04-04 01:30:16 · answer #2 · answered by random 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All he ever does is run.
or All he ever does is runs.
In both cases, you need a verb, not a gerund (running) which is a verb acting as a noun. We wants something equivalent to "does", which can be either "run", the base form of the verb, or "runs", conjugated for "he" (but you don't need the "he" because it's obvious). I'm not sure, but I think the sentence "all he ever does is run" is an ellipted (some words are removed because they're unnecessary) form of "all he ever does is he does run". "All he ever does is runs" is almost certainly an ellipted form of "All he ever does is he runs."
2007-04-04 03:52:32 · answer #3 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lori B is wrong; "run" is not a preposition, it's a verb, and it is perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a verb.
"All he ever does is run."
Correct.
"All he ever does is running" is not correct. You could say "All he is doing is running."
2007-04-04 02:19:38 · answer #4 · answered by supertop 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All he ever does is running.
2007-04-04 00:50:05 · answer #5 · answered by russiancatsima 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You never end a phrase with a preposition. So don't end the sentence with "is run." Instead, try this...
Running is all he ever does.
2007-04-04 00:49:50 · answer #6 · answered by Lori B. 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
All he ever does is run.
2007-04-04 01:20:25 · answer #7 · answered by Lesley M 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need a gerund, so that the complement is grammatically correct:
All he ever does is running.
2007-04-04 01:09:22 · answer #8 · answered by Yiya 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first one you posted is correct.
All he ever does is run.
2007-04-04 00:49:12 · answer #9 · answered by alaskamommy 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
All he ever does is run.
2007-04-04 00:54:53 · answer #10 · answered by vegasguido 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋