The following sentence came up and started a discussion between me and a friend over the grammar and the use of the word to:
Now that the weather is frightful, why not (to) spend the time indoors with friends and family
My friend's argument is that we must use the full infinitive form. To that I argue that we are using that form, we should just skip the leading to. Which is correct? Should the to be there or not?
I believe the following is a minimal, simplified version of the sentence:
Why not to do it
But in this case it makes sense for me to say it both with and without the to, although I feel that those two versions have slightly different meanings (I would also put the stress slightly differently in either case):
Why not do it
Why not to do it
Whereas it feels incorrect to me (but not to my friend) to use the to in the example in the beginning.
Some advice for clearing this out?
Best Answer
The marked infinitive, for example
to err
resolves to something like a noun; it plays a nominal role, so that it can be used as a subject or object:
The question-word why wants a verbal complement that resolves to an action: