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Vincent Teo Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

does .. have / has

0Can I say,02br
02br
00(a) How many marbles does he have / has left?02br
02br
00(b) How many marbles does he left / leave?0-
  

Top answer

0Hi,02br 02br 01font 00Can I say,02font 02br 02br 01font 00(a) How many marbles does he have / has left? 02font 00Use 'have'. 02font 00 To be grammatical, say 'leave'.

— Clive

  • 0Hi,02br 02br 01font 00Can I say,02font 02br 02br 01font 00(a) How many marbles does he have / has left?
  • 02font 00Use 'have'.
  • 02font 00 To be grammatical, say 'leave'.
  • But you would only use this sentencein a very odd context.
  • It relates not to possession but to the remainder that he 'abandons' somewhere.
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13 Answers
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0Hi,02br
02br
01font00Can I say,02font02br
02br
01font00(a) How many marbles does he have / has left? 02font00Use 'have'. This is like asking00 how many remain in his possession.02br
02br
01font00(b) How many marbles does he left
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0
1font00(b) How many marbles does he left / leave?02font02br
02br
00So, which is the best answer? If I ask the pupils in Maths.0-
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0Hi,02br
02br
01font00(a) How many marbles does he have left?02font02br
02br
00Clive0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Clive12cite10Hi,12br
12br
11font10(a) How many marbles does he have left?12font12br
12br
10Clive12br
12br
12blockquote
10To answer the question, we should say ' He does have left..blah blah.., right?'02br
02
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0 01table01tr01td02tr02table
02br
02br
00Hi,02br
02br
01font00(a) How many marbles does he have left?02font02br
02br
02td
02br
02br
01b00To answer the question, we should say ' He does have left..blah blah.., right?'02b
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0
0 01table01tr01td02tr02table
02br
02br
00Hi,02br
02br
01font00(a) How many marbles does he have left?02font02br
02br
02td
02br
02br
01b00To answer the question, we should say ' He does have left..blah blah.., right?'02b
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Can I say 'How many marbles has he left?' Yes. What is the difference? There is really no difference. The verb 'have' is an exception to the usual way of making questions.

Clive - don't you think that "How many marbles has he left" could easily be misinterpreted as meaning "How many marbles did he leave", rather than the intended meaning of "How
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Hi,

I think the context would usually very much clarify any such ambiguity.Emotion: smile

'How many marbles has he left?'
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Then it must be the difference between British/Canadian usage and American. I can't imagine ever asking "how many marbles has he left" when asking for the result of a subtraction problem.

The verb 'have' is an exception to the usual way of making questions. I think it's much less common in the U.S. to use "has he" instead of "does he have." If we did use i
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KhoffI think it's much less common in the U.S. to use "has he" instead of "does he have." If we did use it, we would probably tack on on "got" -- How many marbles has he got? How many marbles has he got left?
To me "How many marbles has he left?" sounds more elegant.
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