Question

There was nothing much to do in the evening but read中read是过去式吗

Answer 1

There was nothing much to do in the evening but read中read不是过去式，是read的原型。

这里用了省略句，补全是There was nothing much to do in the evening but to read books。

意思是晚上没有什么事要做，只能看书。英语中常用省略来减少句子的重复。这里应用到的语法是“前有do，后省to”。是省略的一种情况。例如：

There is nothing to do but (to) obey the orders. 除了服从命令之外，我们别无他法。（介词but前如有do，but后可省略to）

扩展资料：

Mike said that he would come to school to see me the next day, but he didn't. 迈克说他第二天要来学校看我，但是他并没有来。(省掉最后九个词，句子简洁多了)

— Have you told him that 你把那告诉他了吗？
— Not yet. 还没有呢。(= I have not told him that yet. 强调not yet )

Answer 2

在这个 句式中 read 不是过去式的形式， read 应该是省略to 的不定式。
这个句式类似于 have no choice but to do sth 意思是别无选择只好做某事。
但当句子中含有动词do 时 ， but 后的不定式应该省略to .
例如：For their crops, they can do nothing but wait for rain.
But there's nothing we can do except/ but try to get a contract done.

Answer 3

nothing but 后面用动词原型