How to use "how to use"...

[borsbali]

Hello!

My question for today is which of the two following expressions in quotation marks is correct:

At the beginning of a sentence:
- "What to do during panic attacks?" OR "What do during panic attacks?"
If the first one is correct, why can I remember reading the following:
- "Why panic during panic attacks?", isn't it "Why to panic"
and which is the negative?
- "Why not panic...?" OR "Why not to panic...?" as an intruction

In the middle of a sentence:
- "I do not know how to use this machine." OR "I do no know how use/using it."

Thanks for explaining all of these stated above.

Bye,

Balázs.

[Naamplao]

Originally Posted by borsbali

Hello!

My question for today is which of the two following expressions in quotation marks is correct:

At the beginning of a sentence:
- "What to do during panic attacks?" OR "What do during panic attacks?"
Neither of these are correct. They are not complete sentences.

If the first one is correct, why can I remember reading the following:
- "Why panic during panic attacks?", isn't it "Why to panic"
This is correct. "to panic" is an infinitive so "Why to panic" is not a sentence.

and which is the negative?
- "Why not panic...?" OR "Why not to panic...?" as an instruction
I don't know what the "..." means here as this usually indicates an obvious missing part of a sentence, but it isn't obvious to me

"Why not panic?" is correct. (same reason as above.)

In the middle of a sentence:
- "I do not know how to use this machine." OR "I do not know how use/using it."

This is the correct sentence.
Thanks for explaining all of these stated above.

Bye,

Balázs.

...

[borsbali]

Hi, Naamplao!

Thanks for explaining.
With the first two sentences, I wanted ask what YOU would write in an instructions book as a title above a text:
"How to use this microwave oven" OR "How use this microwave oven"
With another example:
Which title would you write in the instructions of a pain-killer's pack as a title:
"When take the medicine?" OR "When to take the medicine"

I emphasize that I know these are not complete sentences but they occur in everyday life mainly in instructions mentioned earlier and I never know whether (to?) use bare infinitive or infinitive. (again: do I need to in this last sentence?

Thanks a lot. Bye for now,

Balázs.

[Naamplao]

Originally Posted by borsbali

Hi, Naamplao!

Thanks for explaining.
With the first two sentences, I wanted ask what YOU would write in an instructions book as a title above a text:
"How to use this microwave oven" OR "How use this microwave oven"
With another example:
Which title would you write in the instructions of a pain-killer's pack as a title:
"When take the medicine?" OR "When to take the medicine"

I emphasize that I know these are not complete sentences but they occur in everyday life mainly in instructions mentioned earlier and I never know whether (to?) use bare infinitive or infinitive. (again: do I need to in this last sentence?

Thanks a lot. Bye for now,

Balázs.

There are many "How to" books on the market as instruction manuals.

Your title should always be in the form:

"How to use this microwave oven"

If this is for a specific model of microwave oven then its name should appear in the title. Also you could change "use" to "operate", though "use" is certainly correct.

How to operate the General Dynamic model 123XL Microwave Oven

or as an alternative title you might use

Operating instructions for the General Dynamic model 123XL Microwave Oven

Coming back to "how [infinitive]" versus "how [verb]" you never use the "how[verb]" format.

[borsbali]

Hello!

Thanks. You see there is no logics in all these mentioned below.
When it comes to instruction manuals, you should write "How to use it", but at the same time, as a title of your essay, you should write "Why (not) panic when there is a bomb on the plane?".
Why is the structure not the same? Once you must use "to" at the beginning of an incomplete sentence, other time you mustn't???

Thanks, and sorry for fussing all about it, I just want to see some logics in this grammatical question.

Thanks a lot.

Balázs.

[Naamplao]

Originally Posted by borsbali

Hello!

Thanks. You see there is no logics in all these mentioned below.
When it comes to instruction manuals, you should write "How to use it", but at the same time, as a title of your essay, you should write "Why (not) panic when there is a bomb on the plane?".
Why is the structure not the same? Once you must use "to" at the beginning of an incomplete sentence, other time you mustn't???

Thanks, and sorry for fussing all about it, I just want to see some logics in this grammatical question.

Thanks a lot.

Balázs.

Well a book title is rarely a complete sentence and I think the same applies to essay titles as well.

I wish you well in your search for logic in the English language. There are not many firm rules in this language. There are too many excaptions that must be memorized.