This article investigates the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of utterances such as This is to count as a construction. It is argued that a construction is required to capture certain semi-idiosyncratic aspects of the pattern. We call this construction the is-to construction. At the same time, its properties are motivated by relating the construction to other well-known constructions via a default inheritance hierarchy. The article also discusses a non-productive “object-related” construction and suggests a diachronic relationship between the two. The proposal is contrasted with word-based, semantic, and purely syntactic accounts.