The phrase "act merely to" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to indicate that an action is performed only for a specific, often minimal, purpose.
Example: "He seemed to act merely to satisfy the requirements of the job, without any real enthusiasm."
Alternatives: "act solely to" or "act just to".
I mean, one's got to get up in the morning thinking of a deviant act, merely to make certain of one's freedom.
One of the dissenters, Kathleen Casey, complained that the move was guided "less by empirical analysis and more by public relations" and that "we should resist the urge to act merely to say we have acted".
In other words, God exclusively provided the total quantum of motion in the universe, and human minds act merely to redirect motions that are already present in bodies.
In fact, I might pop down to Islington council (which, contrary to what seems to be popular belief, does not act merely as custodian to a wealthy, Guardian-reading socialist republic, but is a borough with one of the highest rates of child poverty in London) at lunchtime to remind them all.
Like Mr. Colicchio and Mr. Ripert, Mr. Chang was required not merely to act, but to play a version of himself from several years earlier.
As Justice SCALIA is well aware, however, the Judiciary Act merely gave effect to the grant of federal-question jurisdiction under Article III, which was not self-executing.
From Lacey, Wash.: You said recently that the Patriot Act "merely requires banks to have a credible program for verifying identities of its new customers".
The stage is therefore set for a dispute because the last thing the journalist (and his/her editor) wishes to do is to act merely as a publicity platform, while the actor - in most cases - wishes to say as little as possible (and often has little of interest to say anyway).
Last week, it emerged that the Central Intelligence Agency had concluded that in the later stages of the presidential campaign Russia acted not merely to disrupt the election but specifically to aid Donald J. Trump.
In response to Aristotle, one might wonder whether it is possible to act merely as if one has certain beliefs, without having them.
They may not be democrats, but they will not likely wish to act merely as bodyguards for a despot.
