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Julian
Why “mess” is not a present participle here？
"What he did not do–and never did, even later on–was mess around with their words. "
Why “mess” is not a present participle here？
THX~
Oct 16, 2016 6:32 AM
5
0
Answers · 5
What did you do today?
I messed around.
Mess around is what I did.
What I did is (to) mess around.
What I did not do is (to) mess around.
Does that help?
October 16, 2016
It is an infinitive, a bare infinitive. In other words, there could have been "to" before "mess around".
October 16, 2016
