Can any one help me to distinguish two sentence below?
The last thing you should do IS CALL the police.
vs
The last thing you should do IS TO CALL the police.
And what is the grammatical function of “Be+ To verb” in this case?
Hi Quang
the grammatical function of “Be+ To verb” is used to:
-say that someone should or must do something
example:No one is to leave the ship without the permission of captain.
-show that something will happen in the future
example:I am to go around the world next summer.
-say what can happen
example:The house is to collapse at any time
I think you can depend on circumstances to understand the meaning of the sentence
Mi
I think Be+ to V in my sentence is St that you should do, isn’t it? But if it is st that should be done so the word “should” is redundant?
No, the word isn’t redundant. Without it, the sentence would not indicate that this is what ought to (or in this case, what ought not to) be done. It would simply become a statement… this is the thing you do last.