All I have to do is dream.

It seems to me that you could just as well consider them to be the imperative forms of the verbs, as found in instructions, which are identical to the base form without "to".

Consider the following:

It is simple to make a cake. All you have to do is:

Make ready the fire and oven

Line the pans with buttered paper

Cream the butter, and work in the sugar gradually.

Separate the egg

Beat the yolk and pour the milk into it, and add it to the creamed butter.

Sift in the flour, baking-powder, and spice, and stir it well, to make a smooth dough.

Beat the white until stiff, and fold it lightly into the dough.

Bake from twenty to thirty-five minutes.

Thank you VERY MUCH!

Dream
Dream dream dream
Dream
Dream dream dream

When I want you in my arms
When I want you and all your charms
Whenever I want you
All I have to do is dream
Dream dream dream

When I feel blue in the night
And I need you to hold me tight
Whenever I want you
All I have to do is dream

I can make you mine
Taste your lips of wine
Any time, night or day
Only trouble is, gee whiz
I'm dreaming my life away

I need you so that I could die
I love you so and that is why
Whenever I want you
All I have to do is dream

I can make you mine
Taste your lips of wine
Any time night or day
Only trouble is, gee whiz
I'm dreaming my life away

I need you so that I could die
I love you so and that is why
Whenever I want you
All I have to do is dream
Dream dream dream
Dream
Dream dream dream
Dream

--Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, 1958.

First recorded and released by the Everly Brothers in 1958, it reached 14th on the top 100 popular songs list for 1958.

Oh, Setanta! I like this song very much!

I've always liked it, too.

If you click here, you will be taken to a page where you can listen to the Everly Brothers singing All I Have to Do Is Dream.

I have a CD contains that song. But listening to the part of it online is another beautiful feeling.
Thank you Setanta! U'r so VERY KIND!

Oops! Have you changed you avatar? I guess it's another beautiful picture of your dog, right?

Yes, but it is a picture of a different dog--the companion of the dog whose picture i had been using.

Nice to see your dog's companion! He/She seems friendly

She is mostly friendly. However, she does not think of herself as a dog, and is not very enthusiastic about meeting other dogs--i'd say, in fact, that she doesn't particularly like dogs. She does like people, however, and often veers away and follows someone else, having apparently decided that she would like to go home with them. She usually treats other dogs as though they were beneath her notice.

That sounds not bad. People like her, and she likes people.
I guess scarcely can anybody indeed be a quite good friend of a dog who shows no interest at all in human being. :wink:

That's a good point. The other dog whose picture i used until recently, is far more interested in other dogs--in fact, it is one of his great pleasures in life to walk down a city street, or to go to a park or the beach, and meet other dogs. The dog in this picture, Miss Cleo, pays little attention to the dogs, but goes up to almost everyone she sees, to find out if they are interested in giving her a rub down, or in telling her how beautiful she is. One day, we went to the beach, which has a very long boardwalk. There are benches at the side of the boardwalk, and on that day, which was sunny and warm, there were people sitting on all the benches. Miss Cleo went from bench to bench, to see if the people there would "give her some loving," or tell her how beautiful she is. We went along the boardwalk for more than two miles (almost 4 kilometers) so that she could meet as many people as possible.

The other dog, Mr. Bailey, was happy to meet other dogs along the way, and he is sufficiently polite and well-mannered, that he cheerfully tolerated Miss Cleo's decision to play to the crowd.

Interesting characteristics!

I find that dogs can be as varied in their character as are humans.

I guess that's another reason why so many people keep dogs as pets. They can be human beings' friends, and never the less, there can be many unpredictable nice surprises to discover. Nice journey most time can it be!

On the original topic, no offense, but the bold words don't really seem like imperatives. Nobody's being ordered to dream, or hope. I actually agree with bluestblue; they seem like infinitives with the "to" left out. Or possibly something else altogether. But what do I know?

P.S.- Your dogs sound great. I would love to meet dogs like that. All my dogs want to do is bark/run away. Lol.

An "infinitive phrase with the to omitted" is identical with the imperative form of a verb.

Not imperative like order; imperative like instructions in a manual, as i thought my cake recipe example suggested.

All I have to do is dream

All you have to do is loosen the four nuts, remove the cover, peel off the gasket and inspect the gear wheels.

Since the imperative is formed from the base form, minus the "to", (which is definitely missing), we can't tell easily. When my post in alt.english.usage gets an answer, I'll let you all know.