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Taka Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Have until

Just try a bit harder. You only have until the end of the semester, and then you`re done with biology.

About the "prep " as the object of the transitive "have", Is that grammatically OK?
  

Top answer

It's OK, but it's not clear that "until the end of the semester" is the object of "have". "until the end of the semester" is possibly adverbial, or we could say that the pattern is just idiomatic.

— GPY

  • It's OK, but it's not clear that "until the end of the semester" is the object of "have".
  • "until the end of the semester" is possibly adverbial, or we could say that the pattern is just idiomatic.
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9 Answers
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It's OK, but it's not clear that "until the end of the semester" is the object of "have". "until the end of the semester" is possibly adverbial, or we could say that the pattern is just idiomatic.
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GPY "until the end of the semester" is possibly adverbial,
Then it would follow that the transitive verb doesn't have an object. Grammatically, does it make sense?

or we could say that the pattern is just idiomatic.
Wouldn't you come up with any other examples where the preposition of "S+have+prep+noun" is something else
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TakaThen it would follow that the transitive verb doesn't have an object. Grammatically, does it make sense?
Well, in that interpretation "have" could not be transitive.
TakaWouldn't you come up with any other examples where the preposition of "S+have+prep+noun" is something else other than "until"?
At the moment I can'
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GPYWell, in that interpretation "have" could not be transitive.
Or an ellipsis of "have time until..." maybe?
At the moment I can't think of any analogous examples apart from very similar time references like "have from ... (until ...)" or "have up to / up until ...".
I see. Thanks.
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TakaOr an ellipsis of "have time until..." maybe?
I don't think so. "You only have time until the end of the semester" isn't natural English, and it isn't even clear that it ought to mean the same as the original.
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OK. Thanks again, GPY!
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TakaYou only have until the end of the semester…
This seems to be one of those unusual cases where a PP can function as direct object. According to CGEL, certain types of PP containing a numeral or measure phrase or ones denoting times or places can function as object or subject:

I spent over a year there.
Will at
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Yeah, you may have a point after all...
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Thanks for the great comment, AG!
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