"I dare make a statement."
OR
"I dare to make a statement."
When do we keep ''to" in the sentence and when do we leave it out? Ny grammar preferences?
dare is sometimes classed with the modal verbs, but it is rarely used as a modal except in such fossilised expressions as
I dare say (occasionally, incorrectly, written as
I daresay) and in the present tense negative in BrE, e.g.
I daren't ask her.
Using
dare as a full verb followed by a to-infinitive is the form you will most commonly see and hear, and it is always correct. The
to is sometimes dropped by some people in conversation, but it should be there in the written form.
Your first example sounds very strange on its own for two reasons.
1. modal
dare is rare, as I said above.
2.
dare is far more common in negatives and questions than in affirmative statements. You might well hear:
I wonder if I dare make a statement (an indirect question.
Your second example is less unlikely than your first, but still a little unusual, because it is affirmative.