By Jove! Bob’s had another thought. He’s been mulling over “have” forms.

-The tool “have” and the ubiquitous twist sound like a chapter from Sherlock Holmes.

-The letter “h” is an unhappy one in the English language. It is mal-treated by the less-educated and dropped as in ‘arry and correctly dropped in words such as “hour” and “honour”.

-As everybody should know, “have” to introduce the possessive is one of the most ubiquitous forms in the English language. Unfortunately it is also used to substitute “take”, as in the many compound verbs such as “have a bath” and so on. It is also used in the existential mode as in “China has a Communist government”. (There is a …….)

We use “have” normally to describe:

• pure possession at the present time (I’ve got one somewhere)
• possession for the habitual present (I usually have one)
• existentialism (The city’s got plenty of attractions = There are plenty of …….)
• compound verbs (to have a good time; to have your wits about you)
• phrasal verbs (He’s having you on)
• idiomatic expressions (Have one on the house!)
• auxiliary in perfect tenses (I’ve seen it)

-Given this ubiquity and the asperative nature of the letter (it can give you laryngitis if used too pedantically) it is not surprising that ways have emerged to “sand down” its deleterious effects.  Obviously the most common way of getting rid of “dead wood” in spoken English is to “contract” it out. Thus, I daresay some grammarian all those years ago thought, “What about –I’ve a pen.” Some wit sitting next to him must have said, “And he’s a pen, too.”

-Obviously the contraction of “is” and “has” as -‘s- couldn’t function as in “it’s a scratch (has)” and “it’s a scratch (is).” Simple solutions are always the best: choose another tool. This time, choose a little tool; the smallest are always the best. Why not add a marker after the -‘s- to differentiate the conceptual difference? “I’ve got it!” he exclaimed. And he had. Notice no “got” in the past.

-Therefore the tool “got” got into the English language under another guise, which made it even more ubiquitous. However we must remember a number of things.

• I’ve got/you’ve got/he’s got/she’s got/it’s got/we’ve got/they’ve got/the twins’ve got/Peter’s got/he’s got blue eyes (true present possession)
• London’s got hundreds of places to visit (existential: there are hundreds of…..)
• Peter usually has time to discuss important matters (habitual “possession”; no contraction)

-Not ubiquitous and so stressed

• They have lunch earlier than us (have=take) (compound verb)

-Not ubiquitous and so stressed

• He’s having you on

-Not ubiquitous and so stressed

*The present negative (I haven’t got) and interrogative (Have you got?) do not conform for reasons of stress

-The negative contraction overrides the “have” and contractions never begin a sentence (as in the interrogative).Moreover there is no conventional contraction in the other tenses (unconventional or uneducated pronunciation is a mute point). I had a pen/I didn’t have a pen/Did you have a pen?-notice no “got”.

So the -‘ve got – and –‘s got- form is, we can say, a tool to avoid too much aspiration in ubiquitous present possession. My advice is to accept it, drill it and drill the tense changes:

I’ve got it-I had it

I haven’t got it-I didn’t have it

Have you got it?-Did you have it?

The obligatory verb change in Indirect Speech makes this important in exams.

But that is not the end of it……………………fortunately or unfortunately!

The infinitive “to have” is the possessive tool. Just add “to” (+infinitive) to it and you have the obligation tool.

present indicative: I’ve got

present subjunctive: If I had

past indicative: I had

past subjunctive: If I had had

present perfect: I’ve had                                                          a cup of tea (possession)

past perfect: I’d had

future simple: I’ll have

conditional simple: I’d have                                                 to make a cup of tea (obligation)

future perfect: I’ll have had

conditional perfect: I’d have had

modal present: I should have

modal past: I should have had

going to future: I’m going to have

future in the past: I was going to have

There is much unnecessary confusion in the “obligation” concept.

Obligation comes in three forms:

1. 1. endogenous obligation

The endogenous obligation tool is “must” and being endogenous, it is confined to the first person singular or plural. It is a future.

Example: I/we must buy some toothpaste (for myself/ourselves).

Note: The use of “must” with the second person singular and plural is conceptually either a warning or exhortation. It is not obligation.

Example:  You must take more care with your spelling.

Example: You must read it. I really enjoyed it.

Note: Used with the third person singular or plural and the existential, the tool metamorphoses into a true modal – we use it as a vehicle for supposition – but the supposition is restricted to a single possibility.

Example: He must be a millionaire.

He must work for British Airways.

He must be having a wonderful.

He must be able to speak their language.

He must have hundreds of children.

There must be a logical explanation.

He must have to get up very early.

1. 2. exogenous obligation

The exogenous obligation tool uses the “have got to” or “has got to” form. The obligation is external. It is also future.

Example: I’ve got to buy some toothpaste for my mother (my mother has asked me to buy some toothpaste for her).

Example: Everybody has got to tighten their belts.

1. 3. habitual obligation

This is in the present tense and therefore is the only one of the three which can be put into the past. In fact it is a verb unlike the others which are modal tools.

Example: I have to wear glasses.

Example: She has to do a lot of homework.

Changes in tenses of obligation

endogenous obligation

present: I must buy it  (no negative)

past: I had to buy it  (no negative)

exhortation

present: You must see it

warning

present (negative): You mustn’t touch it

supposition

present: He must be mad

past: He must have been mad

present (negative): He mustn’t know the answer

past (negative): He mustn’t have known the answer

exogenous obligation

present: I’ve got to wait

past: I had to wait

present (negative): I haven’t got to wait

past (negative): I didn’t have to wait

habitual obligation

present: I have to help

past: I had to help

present (negative): I don’t have to help

past (negative): I didn’t have to help