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Akdom Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Here's someone HAD TO say about sth

And here's what Updike had to say about Rabbit, Run back in 1990: It was subtitled, in my ........

I thought "have to" means "must." But in this case, I don't think it does. And I've seen sentences like this very often:

This is someone had to say about somthing.

Could you explain to me what it means?

Is this an idiom? How would I be using this phrase?
  

Top answer

" I can't quite put my finger on the difference, but it's very, very slight. " Does that help any?

— Khoff

  • " I can't quite put my finger on the difference, but it's very, very slight.
  • " Does that help any?
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2 Answers
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You're right, it doesn't mean "must." Think about it this way -- "I have one thing to say about him -- he's always reliable."

"This is what he had to say about John" is really not very different in meaning from "this is what he said about John." I can't quite put my finger on the difference, but it's very, very slight. It's almost as though he consults a list in his mi
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You can think of it as

Here's what Updike had (in his mind) (that he wanted) to say about ...

What do you have to say about that?
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