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Anonymous Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

Continuous Use Of 'Have to'?

You're having to lend me an ear, even though we're not on a date or anything. You really are a nice girl.

Is that the "have to" that we call a modal verb which indicates obligation?

It seems to me that the flavour of obligation is non-existent in the context (Just a friend whose sex is female is shrinking a man's head). The sentence seems to be the same as "You are lending me an ear...". So I don't think that's a modal verb phrase. Am I wrong?


P.S. Could you tell me that really is a sentence adverb or a postmodifier of a noun phrase (as in Your friend here is a real hero)?

  

Top answer

anonymous Is that the "have to" that we call a modal verb which indicates obligation? Yes, but 'have to' is actually a semi -modal. ".

— CalifJim

  • anonymous Is that the "have to" that we call a modal verb which indicates obligation?
  • Yes, but 'have to' is actually a semi -modal.
  • ".
  • Yes.
  • The "having to" sounds like it might be a way of expressing regret on the part of the speaker.
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2 Answers
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anonymousIs that the "have to" that we call a modal verb which indicates obligation?

Yes, but 'have to' is actually a semi-modal.

anonymousThe sentence seems to be the same as "You are lending me an ear...".

Yes. The "having to" sounds like it might be a way of expressing regret on the part of the speaker.

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You're having [to lend me an ear, even though we're not on a date or anything]. You really are a nice girl.

Your analysis contains two fundamental mistakes:

1. It's just the verb "having" that is a stative verb. The "to" is part of the bracketed infinitival clause functioning as complement of "having".

2. Syntactically, stative "have" is a l

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