Q:

"Better not X" or "better not to X?"

What's the correct construction?
Example sentence:

A bear! Better not (to) move or it would devour her.

Should the to be there? Why or why not?

A:

The "better not move" sentence seems like an imperative (you are commanding the other party---after all, there's a bear).  Placing the "to" after the not sounds a bit awkward to my ear but it is less imperative, like a suggestion. Perhaps "It would be better not to move..." would be a way to rephrase the sentence if the bear were far away.

