When would you be having your friend?

Can this conversation from Game of Thrones serve as an example how much the meaning of certain verbs (in this case to have) can change whether they are seen as stative or action verbs?

Lord Renly: "Such a shame, Littlefinger. It would've been so nice for you to have a friend."
Littlefinger: "And tell me, Lord Renly. When would you be having your friend?" *points at the Knight of the Flowers*

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Not a teacher, probably used wrong terminology.

NOT A TEACHER



Hello, Glizdka:


1. Your question is much too difficult for me to answer, but I wanted to thank you for raising a topic that I had never thought about before.

2. I did some googling and found a result that should interest you.

a. It comes from a grammar site called stackexhange, where people exchange opinions about grammar.

b. Just google these words: Is "have" as in "I have to go" a stative verb?



Best wishes

In my opinion, it's the brilliantly clever dialogue that makes GoT such a good show.

The way that Littlefinger makes use of the stative/active difference here is a great example.

(For those unfortunate enough never to have seen the show, the Knight of Flowers is Lord Renly's secret lover.)

Thank you, jutfrank. I thought it might have been the case, but I wasn't sure. I've been wrestling with stative, action, and transitive verbs. I wasn't sure if that was a good example.

I guess I should've stated that they were secret homosexual lovers and nobody was to know about it. That would've, indeed, been much easier to understand for those who haven't seen the show.

P.S. is the part in blue correct, or should I have used just "it might be"?

Glizdka said:

P.S. is the part in blue correct, or should I have used just "it might be"?

Click to expand...

Yes, it is.

(You could have used it might be as well.)