[Grammar] All you have to do is do/to do/doing ...?

[Outre]

Hello,

I'm confused about the following sentences.

1. All you have to do is study.
2. All you have to do is to study.
3. All you have to do is studying.

4. Study is all you have to do.
5. To study is all you have to do.
6. Studying is all you have to do.

"Be + verb" is common but it seems grammatically incorrect because verb cannot be object. Could someone explain that?

And what are the differences between the correct sentences?

Thanks!

 

[GoesStation]

Hello,

I'm confused about the following sentences.

1. All you have to do is study. :tick:
2. All you have to do is to study. :tick:
3. All you have to do is studying. :cross:

4. Study is all you have to do. :cross:
5. To study is all you have to do. :cross:
6. Studying is all you have to do. :tick:

1, 2, and 6 mean the same thing.

 

[sania-baharat]

GoesStation,
Why #2 is correct, but #5 is not? "To study" is the to-infinitive verb that can be used an a subject .

2. All you have to do is to study.
5. To study is all you have to do

 

[GoesStation]

GoesStation,
Why #2 is correct, but #5 is not? "To study" is the to-infinitive verb that can be used an a subject .

2. All you have to do is to study.
5. To study is all you have to do

I vacillated on number 5. It just doesn't look natural with the the infinitive at the beginning.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Studying' as a gerund can be used as a subject complement, so why is 3 wrong?

 

[GoesStation]

Why ​is #2 [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] correct, but not #5 [STRIKE]is not[/STRIKE]? "To study" is the to-infinitive verb that can be used as a subject. [No space before a comma.]

See the right way to form a question above.

 

[Outre]

1. All you have to do is study.
3. All you have to do is studying.

Why can the verb "study" be used as a subject? I think "Studying" should be correct. But the opposite is true. It's there any explanation?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think "Studying" should be correct.

I think so too because 'studying' is a gerund there.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Also, native speakers find 'is study' more natural, although I don't know why.

 

[Outre]

All you have to do is studying is not natural.

The underlying pattern of the sentence is: All you have to do is you have to study.

This is actually produced as:

All you have to do is to study.
All you have to do is study.

He did nothing but he did wait.
→ He did nothing but wait.

Are the sentences above correct?

Can I say "He did nothing but to wait?" (I think it is incorrect.)

 

[Matthew Wai]

He did nothing but wait.

You use nothing but in front of a noun, an infinitive without 'to', or an '-ing' form to mean 'only'.
Source: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/nothing-but

 

[Matthew Wai]

I found 145 examples at https://fraze.it/n_search.jsp?q="did+nothing+but"&l=0