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Ac2000 Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
"have to be" vs."mustn't" in questions
Hello,
let's say, it's already late and you want to remind somebody of an important meeting, I suppose you could say:
1.) Don't you have to be at the meeting by 4 pm?
I wonder, if this would also be possible:
2.) Mustn't you be at the meeting by 4 pm?
So, does 2.) have more or less the same meaning as 1.) or does "Mustn't you be ...." mean in 2.): "Are you not allowed to be ..." since the meaning of "mustn't" is usually "not be allowed to"?
I used to think that the usage in 2.) was not possible in this context, but I found some similar examples on the internet by presumably native speakers of English, and now I'm a little confused ....
Thanks,
ac2000
let's say, it's already late and you want to remind somebody of an important meeting, I suppose you could say:
1.) Don't you have to be at the meeting by 4 pm?
I wonder, if this would also be possible:
2.) Mustn't you be at the meeting by 4 pm?
So, does 2.) have more or less the same meaning as 1.) or does "Mustn't you be ...." mean in 2.): "Are you not allowed to be ..." since the meaning of "mustn't" is usually "not be allowed to"?
I used to think that the usage in 2.) was not possible in this context, but I found some similar examples on the internet by presumably native speakers of English, and now I'm a little confused ....
Thanks,
ac2000
Top answer
(1) is normal and natural (except that in conversation you would usually say "4 o'clock" since it would be obvious that pm was meant). (2) is understood to mean the same as (1), but it is not a very common way of saying it.
- (1) is normal and natural (except that in conversation you would usually say "4 o'clock" since it would be obvious that pm was meant).
- (2) is understood to mean the same as (1), but it is not a very common way of saying it.
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4 Answers
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(1) is normal and natural (except that in conversation you would usually say "4 o'clock" since it would be obvious that pm was meant).
(2) is understood to mean the same as (1), but it is not a very common way of saying it.
(2) is understood to mean the same as (1), but it is not a very common way of saying it.
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Thank you GPY! That's very interesting to me because in dictionaries this possible (although uncommon) meaning of "mustn't" is rarely mentioned.
00
If you know that these affirmative sentences mean the same:
I have to be at the meeting by 4 pm.
I must be at the meeting by 4 pm.
then there shouldn't be too much difficulty to see that the question forms should mean the same too.
I have to be at the meeting by 4 pm.
I must be at the meeting by 4 pm.
then there shouldn't be too much difficulty to see that the question forms should mean the same too.
00
GPYexcept that in conversation you would usually say "4 o'clock"Or, in fact, people would often just say "by four".
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