Grammar 2

M u s t a n d h a v e ( g o t ) t o When we say that it is NECESSARY to do something, we use must or have (got) to: To get a cheap ticket, you must / have (got) to book in advance. Every animal on the island must / has (got) to be destroyed.

When we want to say that it will be necessary for someone to do something in the future, we use must, have (got) to, or will have to:

To get there on time, I must / have (got) to / will have to leave home by 8.30.

Have got to is less formal than the others, and is particularly common in spoken English. We can often use need (to) with a similar meaning:

Before you buy a house, you need to / must / have (got) to consider all the costs.

Using have (got) to suggests that someone else or some outside circumstances or authority makes something necessary. We use must when the speaker decides it is necessary.

I have to see the head teacher, (...she has called me to her office) I must see the head teacher. (...I want to discuss something with her)

We prefer have (got) to when we talk about a necessity that is characteristic of a person: Ann has got to have at least eight hours' sleep a night. She has to drink two cups of coffee in the morning before she feels really awake.

We normally use must, not have (got) to, when we CONCLUDE that something (has) happened or that something is true

With that pile of papers on his desk, Tony must be wishing he'd never taken the job. The hall's packed. There must be about 2,000 people at the meeting.

However, in informal speech, we can use have (got) to: Look at all those penguins. There's got to be about a million of them! You want to borrow more money from me? You've got to be joking!

When we give a negative conclusion we rarely use either must not or hasn't / haven't got to. Instead, we use can't (cannot) or couldn't: 'I'm seeing Dr Evans next week.' 'That can't be right. He's on holiday then.' He wasn't there at the time. It couldn't have been his fault.

Must has no other forms than the present tense (no past tense, no participles, etc.) and in past tense sentences which say that it was necessary to do something, we use had to instead:

Bill's not here. He had to leave early The car broke down and we had to get a taxi

To draw a conclusion about something in the past, we use must + have + past participle: You must have been upset when you heard the news. She must have played really well to win. I wish I'd seen the match.

Sometimes we can use either have to or have got to. However, we prefer have to with frequency adverbs such as always, never, normally, rarely, sometimes, etc.:

I often have to work at the weekend to get everything done.

With the past simple, we use had to, especially in questions and negative sentences: When did you have to give the books back? {not When had you got to...) We didn't have to wait too long for an answer, (not We hadn't got to...)

After contracted forms of have, has or had (e.g. I've, He's, It'd) we use got: It's got to work this time, [not It's to work...) In formal English we prefer have to rather than have got to.

N e e d ( n ' t ), d o n ' t h a v e t o a n d m u s t n ' t A. Mustn't and needn't / don't have to We use mustn't to say that something is NOT ALLOWED and needn't (or don't need to) or don't have to say that something is NOT NECESSARY:

You mustn't walk on the grass here. You mustn't put anything on the shelves until the glue has set hard. They proved that watching a chess match needn't be boring.

We needn't go into details now, but we seem to agree on the general principles.

Need, needn't, and don't need to / don't have to Need can be used as a modal verb (before a bare infinitive) or as an ordinary verb.

Compare: You needn't speak so loudly. (= modal verb) She needn't come with us if she doesn't want to. (= modal verb) She's thirsty. She needs a drink. (= ordinary verb)

Jim and Bob are here. They say they need to see you urgently. (= ordinary verb)

When it is a modal verb need is most commonly used in negative sentences, although it is sometimes also used in questions: Need you go home so soon? (or, more commonly Do you have to go...?) Need I say more? (or, more commonly Do I have to say...?)

We can use either needn't or don't have to when we say that is unnecessary to do something: It would be good to see you, but you needn't ((or don't have to) come if you're busy. You needn't (or don't have to) whisper. Nobody can hear us.

Compare these uses of needn't and don't need to.

Didn't need to / didn't have to and need not have

When we say that it was not necessary to do something in the past, and it wasn't done, we use didn't need to or didn't have to. To show that we think something that was done was not, in fact, necessary we use need not have:

Chris and June phoned to say that they couldn't come to eat, so I didn't need/have to cook dinner. (= I didn't cook the dinner) I needn't have cooked dinner. Just as it was ready, Chris and June phoned to say that they couldn't come to eat. (= I did cook the dinner)

Study how we use need with scarcely, hardly, and only, particularly in formal contexts: We need hardly point out that there is a water shortage at the moment. (= it is almost unnecessary for us to point out...)

I need scarcely add that you will be missed. (= it is almost unnecessary for me to add...) The changes need only be small to make the proposals acceptable. '...hardly need to point out...,' '...scarcely need to add...' and '...only need to be...' are also possible, and less formal.