Please help with infinitive grammar question!?

Question

The sentence is "Something I always do before taking a test is pray at a shrine."

Why is the infinity to- unnecessary after "is"? My students are taught to always separate verbs with an infinitive and I can't convince them this sentence structure is correct.

I think because it is a habit and not a future activity, but I would love a technical answer.

Thank you!

Answer 1

This one will be on the technical side.

First, forget about any idea of a gerund. That is not the case here. The infinitive in English comes in two forms - the bare infinitive (pray, walk, sing) and the full infinitive (to pray, to walk, to sing). The bare infinitive has limited uses, but some are quite common. For example:

1. Several common verbs of perception, including see, watch, hear, feel, and sense take a direct object and a bare infinitive, where the bare infinitive indicates an action taken by the main verb's direct object. So, "I saw it happen" is a use of the bare infinitive.

2. The bare infinitive is used as the main verb after the auxiliary verb do, or any modal auxiliary verb (such as will, can, or should), except that ought usually takes a to-infinitive. So, "I do sing" is a use of the bare infinitve and the one of concern here.

You have a a situation here where second part of the sentence has been compressed to avoid repitition of the same words - words that were already used in the first part. These words fall in the 'understood' category, like the subjects of imperatives. "Go!" is analyzed as "(You) go!", with the 'you' being understood as the subject. Using that same method of analysis, your sentence would be:

"Something I always do before taking a test is (I do) pray at a shrine."

That is a grammatically correct sentence, yet it sounds odd - odd because it would very rarely be said that way. The 'I' and the 'do' are already there - why repeat them?

Analyzing the sentence this way shows that the bare infinitive is actually related to the 'do' earlier in the sentence, and 'do pray' is a completely normal construction.

Answer 2

First, pray in this case is a gerund (a predicate used as a subject, like saying "Running is a fun activity." Running, although being a predicate, is used as a subject, therefore requiring an -ing suffix) so it should be praying. If you rewrite the sentence, using pray would be incorrect (Pray at a shrine is something I always do before taking a test). teh correct sentence would be: Praying at a shrine is something...
I think this will help them understand why the way you have it written is incorrect.

Answer 3

Essentially you are making a one item list about something always done before taking a test. The item in the list needs to be a complete thought. “I pray at the shrine” is shortened to “pray at the shrine.” with “I” implied as the subject since it is in the first part of your sentence.

Ask “What is something you always do before a test.”, and hopefully your students would agree that “I pray at the shrine” shortened to “pray at the shrine” makes more sense than “to pray at the shrine” which is a sentence fragment.

So, your one item list has a complete thought "pray at a shrine" (with "I" implied) while "to pray at a shrine" is a fragment.


DISCUSSION

What if there were many things that are always done before taking a test? The sentence would look like this:

1) Some things that I always do before a test are: I wash my face; I cry out loud; I wax my car; and I pray at a shrine.

NOT:
2) Some things that I always do before a test are: to wash my face; to cry out loud; to wax my car; and to pray at a shrine.

Sentence 2 above is more likely to evoke a “Definitely wrong” response than your example with just one thing that is done.

Students want to put ‘to’ into your sentence because your list has only one action in it and they are used to hearing and saying:

Where did you go? To church. (I went to church)
Why did you go? To pray. [I went to church (in order) to pray.]

I left the meeting (in order) to pray at the shrine.

Answer 4

"i understand how topersistent" = I very own the certainty that includes how a guy or woman is going approximately utilising. "i understand how Ipersistent." = i'm attentive to the features of my sort of utilising. (IE, speedy/dangerously/carefully/recklessly) "i understand you topersistent" isn't superb grammar. "i understand what to do" means which you propose on doing it, while "i understand what I would desire to do" shows some hestitation or unwillingness to do yet it is.