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Anonymous Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

Grammer

In LOL , Kayle said: “ Why have we wings, sister, if not to fly ? “

Question: Why did she says “ why have we wings” instead of “ why do we have wings “ ?

Thank you!

  

Top answer

anonymous Why did she says say “ W hy have we wings” instead of “ W hy do we have wings ”? “ ? It's a more formal usage of the verb "have".

— CalifJim

  • anonymous Why did she says say “ W hy have we wings” instead of “ W hy do we have wings ”?
  • “ ?
  • It's a more formal usage of the verb "have".
  • It was more common years ago.
  • In most ordinary conversation we don't use that grammatical pattern anymore.
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2 Answers
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anonymousWhy did she says say“Why have we wings” instead of “Why do we have wings”? “ ?

It's a more formal usage of the verb "have". It was more common years

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Your example is a literary one; personally I prefer it to the alternant with do.

Syntactically, the stative verb "have" when it expresses such meanings as possession or obligation, can be either a lexical verb or (for some) an auxiliary one, though the latter usage can sound old-fashioned or formal.

The difference is that lexical verbs require the auxiliary verb "do" in orde

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