About usage of "but", I am confused with this sentence:
You have no choice but to perform the back-test yourself.
"But" is the preposition in this sentence. Why is the use of infinitive? Can I change the verb (perform) to -ing form (gerund) as follows?
You have no choice but performing the back-test yourself.
Best Answer
The word that determines the form of perform is choice not but. You have the choice to do something, not doing it. So it has to be:
You cannot say:
You can use a gerund, however, if choice is followed by in:
This aspect of language has been termed "grammatical collocation". Here is part of the entry on this term in the Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar (p70):