A grammar question

[shawn]

[Narayanan Krishnaswamy]

I was writing on intuition and in a casual manner, with what I have learnt and referred to long back.
Saying that ‘my method did not ring any bells’, made me refer to books.
Prof. N. Krishnaswamy, former Head of the Deapartment of English, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad has written a grammar book , ‘ Modern English.’ He is the present day authority on usage .The book was published by Macmillan India.
In page 245, in a chapter dealing with infinitives, he gives an example:
All you have to do is to sit down and faithfully copy it.
This is the very near sample, I could get, to that of our discussion.
Next
A Handbook of English Grammar by R.W. Zandvoort and Van Ek gives the example:
I had hoped to catch the 8.30, but found it was gone.
She had intended to call but was prevented by a headache.
Here the actions did not materialize. Even like that—All he had to do was to buy a card, which he did not do.