infinitive with vs. without 'to'

[Edison_Chen_e_c]

1.(correct)All that we have to do is 'study' hard.

2.(correct)'To study' hard is what we have to do.

How to know whether I need the infinitive with the "to" or not?

Thanks very much.

[Mister Micawber]

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It is optional.
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_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Sean Priestley]

if the object of the sentence is in the form of a verb, then you either use gerund (if its at the beginning of the sentence), or "to" plus the infinitive.

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Sean Priestley

Nice to meet you on this forum
Are you a native English speaker?
Do you teach English?

Hope to hear from you soon, bye

[Yankee]

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You might want to update your spell-checker, Sean. I'm affraid its missing things.

I'd also be interested in knowing whether you're a native speaker of English. My impression is that you are not. There are some very noticeable errors on your site, and most do not sound like native speaker errors to me. If you are trying to peddle "expert" writing and essays, why not get your own house in order first?
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[Mister Micawber]

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I notice that you edited your post too, after the fact, Sean. Yes, your website needs some editing. The first sentence of the first essay I looked at:

It is of no secret that each person is unique.
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_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Sean Priestley]

hi all...
@ yankee: good point, thanks, I will surely check the pages and revise them if I find mistakes... could you please tell me the pages you found typos on, couse there are over 400 pages.. .thanks

@micawber: some clients require poor english to blend with their writing, so some of the samples might be purposefully distorted, as if an esl student wrote them.. and as for the post editing, what I changed was I added the phrase in parentheses

do I know english? yes.. Am I a native speaker? no... I have been studying english for over 17 years now... I am not an english teacher ... however, I am in professional academic writing for over five years now.. does this fact mean I know something about english grammar? yes it do!!

[Mister Micawber]

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[Lost_Soul]

[Edison_Chen_e_c]

Thanks, all. But Is it really optional?
And actually I feel that if someone is a native Eng speaker doesn't matter at all, I'm now 15, I love language and I am now studying Spanish. The professor of mine told us what language really is, she said even though you speak terrible Eng or Spanish, just make yourself understood that's it. (I'm from Taiwan where Wang on Yankee comes from ^_^)

[Lost_Soul]

[Edison_Chen_e_c]

[Alan]

Hi edison_chen_e_c,

Please do not misunderstand what has been said previously and never be embarrassed about making mistakes when you write or speak English - that's the only way you can learn. Certainly nobody on the site would want to laugh at you for trying to express yourself on the forums.

Good luck,

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a student teacher

[Alan]

Hi Sean Priestley,

I had a look at your site this morning and share the views of others on the site that the English you have used is strangely erratic but that is essentially your problem. What concerns me greatly is that you have used the forum to advertise your site that offers ready-made essays with built-in errors to students with, as I understand it, the inention to hoodwink their teachers into believing that it is original work. We on our site consider this totally alien to the spirit of english-test.net and would ask you to take your business elsewhere. If you persist in trying to exploit our forums, your posts will be deleted.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story A day in the life of a driving instructor

[Edison_Chen_e_c]