# "All I can do is to call the police". Is this perfect English? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923 "2011-11-23T22:18:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![isaiahrobinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/1 "2011-11-23T22:18:44Z")
I just took a grammar test which claims that, although it might be neater without the “to”, as it stands the sentence in the title is grammatically perfect English. Is it really? It certainly feels wrong. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/2 "2011-11-23T22:38:28Z")
Grammatically it’s no different from saying: “_To err is human_.” or “_It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all_.” Do those sound wrong to you, too? ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/3 "2011-11-23T22:40:21Z")
I think it’s one of those ones which is, strictly speaking, grammatically correct, but which grates on the ear of most English-speaking people. Leaving the ‘to’ out makes it sound much more like something somebody would actually say to me. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/4 "2011-11-23T22:44:36Z")
The way that doesn’t “grate” on the ear, though, is harder to explain by conventional grammar. Would you say this?: \*_What I need is call the police._ ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/5 "2011-11-23T22:46:48Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > Leaving the ‘to’ out makes it sound much more like something somebody would actually say to me. It sounds more formal with the “to,” but is grammatically correct. If I were talking about calling the police, I agree, I would likely be a little less formal. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/6 "2011-11-23T23:01:05Z")
> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#): > > If I were talking about calling the police, I agree, I would likely be a little less formal. I think it’s not just less formal, but correct because it’s a kind of parallel construction. Modals like _can, will, must_, etc. aren’t formed with infinitives (_to call the police_), but with base forms (_call the police_). So the _can_ in “all I can do” can take a base form verb phrase: \*I can address the problem later. Or (I can) call the police. I need to address the problem later. Or (I need) to call the police.\* ---
**Author:** ![isaiahrobinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/7 "2011-11-23T23:41:29Z")
I think the reason it sounds wrong to me is because, in my head, the “I” at the start of the sentence has already provided the person for the verb later on in the sentence, “I … call the police”. So instinctively it sounds like it’s incorrect to then treat the verb later on as if it’s still an infinitive. You’d never say “I to call the police”. But I suppose “call the police” really is still an infinite in this sentence? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/8 "2011-11-24T00:14:14Z")
“All I can do is to call the police” sounds weird. “The only thing I can do is to call the police” sounds better to me, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/9 "2011-11-24T01:20:09Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > “All I can do is to call the police” sounds weird. > > “The only thing I can do is to call the police” sounds better to me, somehow. Not to me: both those sentences are better without “to”. Grammar should describe what sounds right to native speakers. If a grammatical rule says that something that sounds wrong (to most native speakers) is actually right (or vice-versa), then the rule is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/10 "2011-11-24T04:26:48Z")
I would drop the “to” in the OP’s sentence. But I would say, “I need you to call the police.” ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/11 "2011-11-24T04:48:54Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I think it’s not just less formal, but correct because it’s a kind of parallel construction. Modals like _can, will, must_, etc. aren’t formed with infinitives (_to call the police_), but with base forms (_call the police_). So the _can_ in “all I can do” can take a base form verb phrase: > \*I can address the problem later. Or (I can) call the police. > > I need to address the problem later. Or (I need) to call the police.\* Your earlier example was better at demonstrating the difference with the modal. This one fails because “I need to -” is just as valid as “I need -”. In fact, I think “Or to call the police” sounds fairly stilted unless that was the intention. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/12 "2011-11-24T15:50:48Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > In fact, I think “Or to call the police” sounds fairly stilted unless that was the intention. Well, just to show how one could construe a “deep structure” where the infinitive is called for in one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/13 "2011-11-24T16:11:15Z")
IANA grammar expert, but I am a native speaker of American. To me the OP’s example smells a bit archaic. In 1900 that would have been considered 100% gramatically correct. Nowadays using the 'to" in the middle sounds stilted. “What am I to do?” is what my grandmother would have said. “What will I do?” is what I would say in the same circumstance. Not quite the same grammatical situation, but close. I also wonder if the British / Commonwealth version of the language would be more inclined to consider the “to” correct. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/14 "2011-11-24T18:01:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “What am I to do?” is what my grandmother would have said. “What will I do?” is what I would say in the same circumstance. Not quite the same grammatical situation, but close. I think those two examples are different in meaning. They would not be used in the same circumstances to mean the same thing, either now or in your grandmother’s time. Both are grammatically correct, but "What am I to do? is equivalent to "“What should I do?” not “What will I do?” > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I also wonder if the British / Commonwealth version of the language would be more inclined to consider the “to” correct. I am British, and the **to** (in the original example) sounds wrong to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/15 "2011-11-25T13:50:03Z")
I am British English, and the example sounds right to me, I hear variations of it frequently. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-i-can-do-is-to-call-the-police-is-this-perfect-english/603923/16 "2011-11-25T13:58:18Z")
If I heard the original sentence I would automatically guess that english was not their first language.