Is "have to" considered a state verb?

[Waawe]

Hey everyone,

Ive already asked the question, yet got no satisfactory answer. Please would a native speaker tell me whether have to belongs in the group of state verbs (want, need, love), thus not being able to take on the -ing form?

Eg: Im having to study hard as Im sitting an exam next week.

Is the sentence correct or should I use I have to study, which I would probably say?

Thanks for help.

Waawe

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by Waawe

Hey everyone,

Ive already asked the question, yet got no satisfactory answer. Please would a native speaker tell me whether have to belongs in the group of state verbs (want, need, love), thus not being able to take on the -ing form?

Eg: I'm having to study hard as I'm sitting an exam next week.

Is the sentence correct or should I use I have to study, which I would probably say?

Thanks for help.

Waawe

Hi Waawe.

Even state verbs are sometimes used in the continuous, eg. "I'mmm loving it".

"have to" is a semi-modal/periphrastic modal with a meaning, as you almost certainnly know, similar to the modal verb 'must'.

While true modals do not use 'ing' forms, periphrastic modals sometimes do. Your example could be used by someone to show a more immediate situation, a more onerous situation, to denote that they really aren't happy about "having to study".

An exact phrase google search gave the following results.

Results 1 - 10 of about 382,000 English pages for "I'm having to".

Why not try an exact phrase search yourself, then you can look at some of the examples to see how it's used?

[Waawe]

Originally Posted by riverkid

Hi Waawe.

Even state verbs are sometimes used in the continuous, eg. "I'mmm loving it".

"have to" is a semi-modal/periphrastic modal with a meaning, as you almost certainnly know, similar to the modal verb 'must'.

While true modals do not use 'ing' forms, periphrastic modals sometimes do. Your example could be used by someone to show a more immediate situation, a more onerous situation, to denote that they really aren't happy about "having to study".

An exact phrase google search gave the following results.

Results 1 - 10 of about 382,000 English pages for "I'm having to".

Why not try an exact phrase search yourself, then you can look at some of the examples to see how it's used?

Hey, thanks for help and your time, RiverKid. As Im a student of English, I need to know what is grammatical and will be OK'd in tests, therefore I dont usually refer to the internet in the matter of grammar (except for this site) as it is definitely not an oasis of correct English. When I read what our Czech journalists, for example, can pass off as correct Czech, I dont dare to refer to google for English. It sure is the same, Im afraid.

Take it easy.

Yours,

Waawe

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by Waawe

Hey, thanks for help and your time, RiverKid. As Im a student of English, I need to know what is grammatical and will be OK'd in tests, therefore I dont usually refer to the internet in the matter of grammar (except for this site) as it is definitely not an oasis of correct English. When I read what our Czech journalists, for example, can pass off as correct Czech, I dont dare to refer to google for English. It sure is the same, Im afraid.

Take it easy.

Yours,

Waawe

I think that that's a short-sighted view, Waawe. I hope that you're not simply studying to pass some exams and then letting all this valuable acquired knowledge go to waste.

Learning how to use English in a natural fashion for a lifetime is much more important than dropping the odd point or two on an exam, especially when that an exam COULD actually be mistakenly defining what is the actual grammar of English.

If your tests are designed by Czech speakers then I'm sure that there are a number of grammatical errors on your tests. This is not a criticism of those people, it's just a fact of life.