[Grammar] Are having to..

[jigneshbharati]

"For people wondering what the heck I'm on about with 'fronted adverbials' - and why it matters is this:

1. Very young children are having to learn what 'fronted adverbials' are and then to make their writing supposedly better, use them in their writing."

why have they used ' are having to'(progressive-are plus verb-ing) instead of 'have to' and please explain to me the grammatical structure used here. Thanks in advance.

 

[Barb_D]

I have to.
I must.
Someone is forcing me to do something.

Teacher: You have to learn this.
The children have to learn this.

Children are having to learn this = it's widespread and repeated.

Better would be "Children are being made to learn" or "Children are being required to learn."

 

[GoesStation]

The text was probably written by someone for whom English is a second language. I would guess further that the person learned English on the Indian sub-continent, where continuous tenses are used in places that look inappropriate to American and British English speakers.

 

[Matthew Wai]

www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/205198-be-having-to?p=1053399#post1053399
Having read 5jj's explanation above, I think 'are having to' can be used in a context like 'The children are having to learn this this week according to the schedule'.

 

[BobK]

'an ongoing present situation of limited duration' - brilliant! This guy must've been a teacher

b

PS I disagree with #3 - it sounds fine to me.

 

[jutfrank]

The phrase ...are having to... is a present continuous form. It's widely and commonly used in this kind of sentence that describes a social trend, even with stative verbs.

Barb D's alternative phrasing of ...are being required to learn... is another clear example of this usage of the present continuous.

 

[GoesStation]

PS I disagree with #3 - it sounds fine to me.

On reflection, I also disagree with that post, even though I wrote it. I didn't fill in the missing comma after between "then" and "to" in the OP; without the comma, I read the sentence as a somewhat clumsy effort by a non-native Anglophone.