May well have...

Question

Hi Folks,I've just written the following sentence:'Cathy may well have come up with the right answer to Greg's question.'I'm anticipating (rightly or wrongly) a student asking me why we don't say:'Cathy may well has to come up with...'After all, we say Cathy has , so why does it now, as in the first sentence, change to 'have' and not 'has'. I've tried to figure it out, but I'm stumped I have to say.ThanksCup Cake.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Cup cakeCathy may well have come up with the right answer to Greg's question.

Modals can be followed ONLY by the plain form of a verb. "may" is a modal verb.

may (well) had - wrong
may (well) has - wrong
may (well) having - wrong
may (well) have - correct

The plain form (base form, infinitive without "to", dictionary form) is "have".

Hence, will have, could have, should have, may have, must have, etc.

It doesn't matter if you put adverbs in between.

CJ

Cup cake · Answer

Yes, this is true. I guess I'm wondering how to explain the verb 'has'.
I know you never say 'to has'.

Why?

I guess my question is this: why are 3rd person verbs not infinitive? Is there a rule to explain this?

I know that you can never say 'Cathy may well has...'

I'm just trying to come up with a - fully extended explanation should any student ask. I know someone will; they always do...

CalifJim · Answer

Cup cakeI guess my question is this: why are 3rd person verbs not infinitive? Is there a rule to explain this?

No. Rules cannot explain such things. Only history can explain them. Centuries ago none of today's languages existed in the same way that they exist today. They have all changed. Languages always continue to change as time goes on.

There are three main periods of the history of the English language — Old English, Middle English, and Modern English. Today we speak Modern English.

In Old English verbs were much more complicated. There were many more endings to indicate person, number, and tense. Gradually the endings were reduced and in Modern English only a few remain. One of the remaining endings that has not dropped out of use is the "s" used for the third person singular of the present tense.

About five centuries ago, about the time of Middle English, we would have said

I have, thou hast, he hath; we have, you have, they have.

We don't use the 'thou' form anymore. We use the 'you' form for both singular and plural. And the 'th' in 'hath' has changed to an 's' to form 'has' instead of 'hath'.

If you want to go back even farther in time, look at the link below, which shows all the forms for the verb 'habban', which was how "to have" was said in Old English.

http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/go.php?D1=23&T1=habban&H1=123

I doubt you want your students to learn Old English or Middle English just so they can understand the form "has". You will have to hope they are satisfied with a simpler explanation based on the facts I've given you in this post.

CJ

Cup cake · Answer

Wow...that's amazing; thank you CJ!

Great information

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