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Taka Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
have to
No matter what business you take up, if you want to succeed, you must do what have to be done a little better than anyone around you.
Shouldn't it be 'has to' instead of 'have to' here? Is it still grammatically correct to use 'have to' in this case?
Shouldn't it be 'has to' instead of 'have to' here? Is it still grammatically correct to use 'have to' in this case?
Top answer
You are correct. It should read 'has to'
- You are correct.
- It should read 'has to'
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8 Answers
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Yes, I'd choose "has to" too.
"Have to" suggests three possibilities:
1. The speaker mistakenly imagines that it's necessary (or grammatical) to use a present subjunctive.
2. There are many different things "to be done"; so the speaker mistakenly imagines that it's necessary to use a plural verb.
3. A typo.
MrP
"Have to" suggests three possibilities:
1. The speaker mistakenly imagines that it's necessary (or grammatical) to use a present subjunctive.
2. There are many different things "to be done"; so the speaker mistakenly imagines that it's necessary to use a plural verb.
3. A typo.
MrP
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This looks like a simple slip up. You can say, "do what you have to do". Maybe they were thinking, "you must do what YOU have to do" but then changed their wording to "be done" and simply forgot to change the wording. As in the beginning we have "No matter what business you TAKE UP", so it sounds better to keep focus on the individual as opposed to what "has to be done" in general.
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"...what have to be done..." clocks up a surprising 936 googles, e.g.
1. To Do Lists are great reminders of what have to be done.
There seems to be a "needs a plural" misconception out there (cf. the people who say "as follow" before a list of several items).
MrP
1. To Do Lists are great reminders of what have to be done.
There seems to be a "needs a plural" misconception out there (cf. the people who say "as follow" before a list of several items).
MrP
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MrPedantic"...what have to be done..." clocks up a surprising 936 googles, e.g.MrP, I don't think we can accept the results at face value because some might have been written by 'sloppy' people.
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If I were the person doing the writing as I see fit, then I would write like this:
No matter which/what business you take up, you must do what needs to be done a little better than anyone around you.
Personally, your sentence is as good as anyone around me, I think.
No matter which/what business you take up, you must do what needs to be done a little better than anyone around you.
Personally, your sentence is as good as anyone around me, I think.
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TakaHello TakaMrPedantic"...what have to be done..." clocks up a surprising 936 googles, e.g.MrP, I don't think we can accept the results at face value because some might have been written by 'sloppy' people.
I'm surprised there are so many; but it's a tiny number, when set against the 754,000 goog
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