"All I did was ..."

Maybe some members/guests do not yet know about this kind of sentence.


Mona: Why are you so sad today?
Raul: My girlfriend is angry with me.
Mona: What did you do?
Raul: ALL I DID was say she was getting a little too fat.


“All I did” = The only thing that I did.


Some native speakers add two words: “All THAT I did was TO say she was getting too fat.”

But many native speakers feel that the sentence sounds more natural WITHOUT those two words.


I have made up two more examples.

All I did was arrive one minute late. (But now the boss wants to fire me!)

All I did was say “Good morning.” (But now Patricia thinks that I love her!)

Your examples save time, space and labor, Jim. They mean exactly what the speaker wanted to say. “Brevity is the soul of wit”.

Thanks, Anglophile.

Have a great weekend.