Linguaphile  +  401080 Mon, 06 Aug 07 04:37 PM Hi, the one below is a post by Clive in another thread. As you well might have guessed, the use of "must live" attracted my attention. I wonder whether must be living or must have lived would be a better phrasing. Hi, I guess I must live a sheltered life, because I've never heard the expression European English before. In my experience, many British people don't even think of themselves as part of Europe (ie the British Isles are just 'near Europe'.) Best wishes, Clive Linguaphile Joined on Tue, Jul 17 2007 Turkey Full Member 140 British People

	milky  +  401102 Mon, 06 Aug 07 05:09 PM <I wonder whether must be living or must have lived would be a better phrasing.> Why would you think that? milky Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004 Senior Member 3,149 Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".

	CalifJim  +  401131 Mon, 06 Aug 07 06:08 PM Both the original and your two suggestions are fine.  When there's a chance for ambiguity between the meanings of must, the use of the progressive can sometimes block the "have to" or "obligation" meaning, but here the situation does not require it. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,393 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

	Linguaphile  +  401153 Mon, 06 Aug 07 06:38 PM  Milky wrote: <I wonder whether must be living or must have lived would be a better phrasing.> Why would you think that? I found it hard to consider "must live" as a deduction. (This is what Jim addressed.) It seemed to me some continuity or completeness must have been expressed, but now I see that, from Jim's post, that is not necessary. PS: Thank you, Jim. Linguaphile