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I stumbled across the sentence below

‘The last thing I'll do is run’

and I wonder why the verb run isn't used in an ‘- ing’ form. As far as I know after the verb ‘is’, a noun should be following. Also there is one more sentence that I found, it's in a similar form I guess.

‘My plan is study hard’

Thanks!

Cardinal
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Chija
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  • your first sentence is correct that happens because of the modal "do", the second one sounds incorrect though. Where did you see the second one? Regarding do you may want to check this thread: https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/96229/using-bare-infinitive-after-does – Cardinal May 14 '19 at 01:53
  • @Cardinal Thank you for your kind reply! The second sentence popped in my head while writing down the first one, am not really sure where I saw it tho! and I’ll defo check the thread. Thanks! – Chija May 14 '19 at 02:14

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I believe this is called an infinitive, where the second verb "run" is not the key verb. I think the rules change when that is the case. The key verb is "do".

This is interesting, because you have also added the future into the mix: "The last thing I will do". You could also say this: "The last thing I will be doing is running". I think the grammar is correct- not sure how often people say that.

Regarding your second sentence. It would sound more normal to say "My plan is to study hard"

wavery
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  • Thank you very much for your kind reply! Can I ask why I can't say ‘My plan is studying hard’ instead of ‘My plan is to study hard’ tho? – Chija May 14 '19 at 02:51
  • Thanks Jude. You can say "My plan is studying hard" I'm not sure there is anything wrong with that. It just doesn't sound normal to me. Maybe because it sounds like "your plan" is doing the studying, and not you. If you say "My plan is to study" it is not ambiguous. – wavery May 14 '19 at 03:19
  • thanks! It’s getting cleared up now! – Chija May 14 '19 at 04:52