I’ve enough of it.

[Caorthine]

Can the sentence I’ve enough of it mean I’ve had enough of it, i.e. the fog. Is it some sort of colloquialism? If it can't, I don't know what the "having enough of" refers to, contextualwise, I mean. Have enough of what? Comments, please.

.....
‘ “What! In this fog?” the latter cried out, huskily.
‘ “Yes, you will have to go in this fog.”
‘ “But I don’t know where I am. I really don’t.”
‘The Commanding Officer turned round. A sort of fury possessed him. The eyes of the two men met. Those of the Northman expressed a profound amazement.
‘ “Oh, you don’t know how to get out.” The Commanding Officer spoke with composure, but his heart was beating with anger and dread. “I will give you your course. Steer south-by-east-half-east for about four miles and then you will be clear to haul to the eastward for your port. The weather will clear up before very long.”
‘ “Must I? What could induce me? I haven’t the nerve.”
‘ “And yet you must go. Unless you want to—”
‘ “I don’t want to,” panted the Northman. “I’ve enough of it.”
.....

[BobK]

It's either archaic or dialectal or both.

The only non-idiomatic use I know of for "I've enough" couldn't be followed by "of it":

'I've enough to do already, without being a baby-sitter for you'
'You want what? Don't you think I've enough on my plate already?'
And one with of:
'I've enough of a problem, without you adding to it.'
But I can't dream up a context for 'I've enough of it'.

b

PS - Got it:

'How much of that wood have you got?
'I've enough of it to make a fire.
In all these examples, "I've" is an abbreviation of 'I have' in the possessive sense; I'm sure Conrad doesn't mean it to be a possessive; it's an auxiliary.

[Ben_Adam]

It's like ARE YOU OKAY? being said as YOU OKAY?

It is colloquial, I've checked...

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Ben_Adam

It's like ARE YOU OKAY? being said as YOU OKAY?

It is colloquial, I've checked...

I'm not sure this example is of any relevance at all.

I don't care how much you've checked stuff. If it was relevant, I'd want to know where you'd checked. But it's not. Your contributions are welcome, but please don't waste Moderators' time by making confusing posts and not pointing out your own absence of native speaker and/or teacher credentials.

b

[Ben_Adam]

I'm sorry, but I am a native speaker, living in Serbia(I've made a mistake when I was signing in)... I've checked with a professor teaching in Cambridge, and that's why I did not stress that I am not a professor. And I do not say I am 100% sure... Maybe I'm not, but I supposed that itwas ok to trust him... :confused: Sorry, I will not post again if I am not hundred percent sure...

[Caorthine]

Hmm... Ben_Adam, I appreciate your thoughts but since I am not a native English speaker I must agree with BobK and say that I can't make any sense of the "... YOU OKAY ..." comment. Of course there might be something in it, but since I'm not, as i said, a native English speaker I need a lot more information to be able to understand what you mean. But, again, I thank you for your input.

Originally Posted by BobK

'How much of that wood have you got?
'I've enough of it to make a fire.
In all these examples, "I've" is an abbreviation of 'I have' in the possessive sense; I'm sure Conrad doesn't mean it to be a possessive; it's an auxiliary.

So, just to clarify, if have is an auxiliary, the main verb is got, as in I have got enough of it??? If that's the case, it makes matters even worse 'cause I really don't understand what the speaker has got enough of. Within the context, it doesn't make sense ....

[Red5]

My guess is that, as Bob said, it's an archaic or dialect form. Google finds only ~ 3.500 results for it which to me suggests to me that it's not colloquial. I've never heard it and am a native speaker.

That said, I am neither a teacher nor expert, so I look forward to more input from others.

Hope that helps.

[Anglika]

Reading the extract and thinking about it, my take is that the speaker has had enough of the situation and wants out. It is a colloquialism, and I've heard it said by someone under intense pressure.

[Red5]

Originally Posted by Anglika

Reading the extract and thinking about it, my take is that the speaker has had enough of the situation and wants out.

Agreed.

[pedant]

This phrase is quite commonly the last gasp of someone who simply can't take any more of whatever it was that's been mythering them up to the present time. Basically it is a slightly more polite way of saying "Sod Off, leave me alone!"

Grammatically it can be used either to say "I have enough of it" or "I have had enough of it" - both are equally valid, since if you already have enough now, you almost certainly had enough 1 second earlier, therefore the past tense is just a valid as the present tense.

The "it" refers to a thing, a state of being, an ongoing sequence of events, or anything else that might previously have been referred to, either explicitly, or implied. ie. the "subject" of the conversation. In the original example, perhaps it was the stream of repeated but maybe conflicting instructions:

Typical examples might be:

Oh! Shut UP! I've enough of it! meaning "please stop giving me more of what you're giving me because I have already managed to interpret what I should do from your previous stream of instructions...you really don't know when to stop do you?!"

What? Yet more urgent repair work needed by yesterday? I've enough of it! which could sarcastically mean "I really don't need any more like this, I already have enough of it to be going on with".

Why are you thinking of suicide after so many years of productive life?
"I've enough of it" meaning I now have enough life in my personal history book and don't see the need for any more. Or perhaps, I have had a lot of life experiences and adding any more would not be beneficial to me."