A nice,short word"Have"

Honour Member

I'll come back to the title in a minute. Don't worry; it's not a typing error. As is the nature of human beings, people like to boast (talk very proudly) about the things they own which they say are the biggest, the most expensive or the best that anybody can think of. Countries do the same. Their people talk about the tallest bridges, the longest rivers or the most successful achievements (things that have been completed by the people in the country) that you can only find in their country. Languages of course can also throw their weight around (act as if they are very important) and maintain (say) that they are the best in the world. English gets carried away (over excited) sometimes, too. And talking of superlatives, what do you think is the longest word in the English language. There are several answers to this question but I will choose one -: 'antidisestablishmentarianism'. Quite a mouthful, you will no doubt agree. Let's take it to pieces -. 'ism' is an ending used for beliefs and philosophies such as communism, capitalism or fascism. The 'establishment' is the word that describes the way the country is governed. In the UK for example we have a monarch (a king or queen) who officially gives permission to (allows) the Houses of Parliament to run (control) the country. Today of course the king or queen is merely the head in name only and has no power. The ending 'arian' makes a noun like 'parliament' into a person – a parliamentarian. In this way 'establishment' becomes a person called an 'establishmentarian' – someone who believes in the establishment. We now have the word 'establishmentarianism' which means a belief that the way a country is run should continue as it always has done. It follows that 'disestablishmentarianism ' means the opposite – in other words you want to change the present system. And we end with 'disestablishmentarianism' that means a belief that you are against those who want to change the present situation. I hope you have followed all that. Let's take a deep breath and go back to the title, a nice, short word 'have'.

This word 'have' is a workhorse (it works very hard) because it appears in many different guises (forms) – as 'has' as 'having' and of course as 'had'. It most frequently acts as the mainstay (the main support) for a tense that is asked about again and again on our forums – the Present Perfect... When do we use it and when do we use the Past Simple? Let me ask some simple questions: Where exactly is Lily? Is she in the house? Is she outside? Where is she? The answer could be one of these two: She has gone to the shops or She went to the shops two hours ago. In the first one we don't know when Lily went to the shops and in the second one, we do. Does that help? I hope so.
Then of course 'have' also appears in the area of necessity and control. Let me explain the first one – necessity. We can say: I must get up early tomorrow morning or we can say: I have to get up early tomorrow morning. Both mean the same or do they? No, they don't. 'Must' is me telling myself to get up early but 'have to' is someone else telling me to do that – I have to get up early tomorrow morning because my boss wants to hold an early morning meeting. And control? That's when you get someone else to do something for you as in: I hate cutting the grass and so I have Charlie do it or I have it cut by Charlie. By the way Charlie is a friend of Lily, who as you know has just gone to the shops.
But 'have' can change from a verb into a noun just to show you how versatile (can do many different jobs) it really is. Sociologists (people who tell you all about how people live in society) are always talking about the 'great divide' in society. What they say is that there is a big difference (a divide) between the rich and the poor. And now we come to 'have' turning into a noun. Those who are poor are called the 'have-nots' and those who are rich are called the 'haves'.
But 'have' is best known for its use in idiomatic expressions. 'Have it out with someone' is when you have a long discussion with someone because you want to settle (find the answer to) a problem. . When we say: My car has had it, this means it's not working any more and it's now useless. You 'have someone on' when you play a trick on them: A: Did you know I am now a lottery millionaire? B: Really? A: No, not really I'm just having you on. There are times when you feel that someone is trying hard to make life difficult for you at work. Everything you do is wrong. You say: I know that the manager 'has it in for' me. She always tries to find mistakes in everything I do. 'Have it in you' suggests you have the ability to do something (you can do it). Often this is used in the negative as in: I didn't know he had it in him (was able to do this) – he actually stood up in front of all those people and gave a wonderful speech. And now I come to a very sad story, a true story about something that happened almost 60 years ago and shows how sometimes language can be a matter of life and death. Two young men (Derek and Chris) broke into a building to steal something. A policeman ran after them and caught them on the roof. The younger one (Chris) had a gun. The police officer said: Come on, young man. Give me the gun. The older one (Derek) said: Let him have it, Chris. Now we come to the sad part. 'Let him have it' can mean 'attack (in this case 'shoot ') him but it could also mean: Give it (the gun) to him. Chris shot and killed the policeman. The jury (the people in the court who decide whether someone has committed the crime) decided he meant: Shoot him. Derek said he meant: Give it to him. Derek was hanged because he was 19 and Chris (16) who had shot the policeman was not hanged but sent to prison for ten years because of his age and is still alive today.
After that terrible story I'll change the subject, use my final 'have' and say:
Have a nice day.

Site Owner

Have an agreeable holiday!

Honour Member

Thank you mrs Lous.I hope so to you and to all teachers and students.