Is it correct not to use 'to' before an infinitive which is a complement in a sentence?
While reading the book 'Head First Design Patterns', I came across this sentence on page 364:

All she has to do to print the entire menu hierarchy - all the menus, and all the menu items - is call print() on the top level menu.

Is it correct not to use 'to' before 'call print() on the top level menu'?

Question

Is it correct not to use 'to' before an infinitive which is a complement in a sentence?
While reading the book 'Head First Design Patterns', I came across this sentence on page 364:

All she has to do to print the entire menu hierarchy - all the menus, and all the menu items - is call print() on the top level menu.

Is it correct not to use 'to' before 'call print() on the top level menu'?

Answer

As James says this is a piece of technical writing -- I recognise it as being about computer programming.  The sentence sounds idiomatically correct as it stands. However, I think it would be just as good if it said "is to call print()  .. ".  I am sorry I don't know what the rule is.

Answer

your example is from a technical source thus it is hard to know.
"call print" may be functioning as a noun here. Eg: All I have to do is study. It has been a long time since high school and I have forgotten some grammar terms, but I believe study is a verb acting as a noun in that sentence.
So in your example, "call print" may work just fine but because it is a technical source with jargon phrases, it is hard for me to know if it is a mistake or not.

Answers · 4

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