Have to have been / had to be

Question

I'm really confused......         :-S           Could you please explain the difference between the two for me?1.  It has to have been just right. 2.  It had to be just right. Many , many thanks in advance.      Candy

K.O. · Accepted Answer

Hi, I  agree candy that it is a bit confusing not that I met  the first one before but still  it seems correct. so,  anybody can tell the difference? thanks

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello Candy

1. It is necessary now that X was right.

2. It was necessary then that X was right.

The first is a rather rare construction.

MrP

Paco2004 · Answer

I take the difference like this:

[1] When I was a student, Mr Bush told us we were all descendants of Adam and Eve. At that time I thought that he had to be right, because he was our teacher.
[2] When I was a student, Mrs Clinton told us we were all descendants of monkeys. I didn't believe her at that time, but now I feel she has to have been right.

Maybe we usually use "must" instead of "has to" in [2]
paco

Rvw · Answer

Have has many meanings as a transitive verb and two usages as a verbal auxiliary.

Transitive verb:
-I have a car.
-He had three sons.
-He had his opponent cornered.
-I have a letter to write. He had a concert to conduct. [to feel compulsion, obligation, or necessity in regard to -- used with a noun object followed by to and the infinitive] ---Webster's Third New International Dictionary

Verbal auxiliary 1:
-(to be in a position or state marked by an action or state completed or ended or virtually completed or ended -- used with the past participle to form the present perfect, past perfect, or future perfect [has gone home][have been here already][the army had already gone home][will have finished dinner by the time the guests arrive])---Webster's Third New International Dictionary

Verbal auxiliary 2:
-to be compelled or under obligation or necessity -- used with the infinitive with to [have to see a doctor][have to pay taxes][had to be home by six] ---Webster's Third New International Dictionary

I think both of your sentences use have in the sense of Verbal auxiliary 2: a form of have followed by the infinitive to be. There is the sense of obligation or necessity: must. However, I would change the form of sentence 1, using the present perfect form of have, plus to be.

Sentence 1: The meaning of this sentence becomes clear through a conjugation:

present: It has to be just right.
past: It had to be just right.
future: It will have to be just right.
present perfect: It has had to be just right.
past perfect: It had had to be just right.
future perfect: It will have had to be just right.

Example: For Mission Control to get to this point, the countdown has had to be just right.

Sentence 2: Had is in the simple past tense. [Yesterday] it had to be just right.] [The weather had to be just right for Armstrong's final Tour de France.]

Candy · Answer

Hello,

Many thanks for answering my question.

It has to have been just right.

Actually I found this sentence in an interview.

Here's the context with the original sentence;
".................because so many things have to come together for that to work. The voice has to have been just right; the lip sync just right; the puppeteer turns the head just right, and the people doing the hand, everything just happened just right. ......"
- by Trey Parker, the director of "Team America"

When I read this, I felt a little strange. The sentence looked grammatically correct, but it didn't make sense to me.

I couldn't understnad why he didn't say "the voice had to be just right."

I'm still a little confused, so let me reread all of your postings again.

Mr. Pedantic, if it's a rare construction, no wonder I didn't get the meaning clearly......(it's a great excuse! )

Paco, rvw and Mr. P, thanks again!

Candy

MrPedantic · Answer

Let us know if it's still unclear, Candy!

Anonymous · Answer

Please use in a sentence has/have felt

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousPlease use in a sentence has/have felt

Please start a new thread rather than appending your post to a thread that is more than 9 years old.

CJ

Have to have been / had to be

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