ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: How to negate "have got to"?

Viceidol — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:41:31 GMT

Thank you, Amy and Jim. I completely understand now.

Re: How to negate "have got to"?

CalifJim — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:00:52 GMT

Viceidol
if we want to negate the sentence with "have got to", how should we do it? Shall I still use "don't/doesn't"?

No. The negation of has got to is hasn't got to. Note, however, that the expression have got to is used almost exclusively in present time in affirmative statements, not in interrogatives, negatives, or in other tenses. Change to have to for those.

Those marked with ? below should be avoided. Those with ?? are really too awkward. I don't recommend them. They are purely theoretical constructions. Use the alternate form after the = sign instead.

I have got to leave early. = I have to leave early.

?I haven't got to leave early. = I don't have to leave early.

?Have I got to leave early? = Do I have to leave early?

?Have I got to leave early? = Don't I have to leave early?

??I had got to leave early. = I had to leave early.

??I hadn't got to leave early. = I didn't have to leave early.

??Had I got to leave early? = Did I have to leave early?

??Hadn't I got to leave early? = Didn't I have to leave early?

Re: How to negate "have got to"?

Yankee — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:49:11 GMT

I'm not sure whether I have ever attempted to use 'have got to' as a negative. However, if I did, I'm sure it would be this way:
"It hasn't got to be ..."

How to negate "have got to"?

Viceidol — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:34:48 GMT

It doesn't have to be hot in Florida now. (=It's not necessarily that Florida is hot now. )

This is how we negate "have to". I know that "have got to", is almost the same as "have to", so if we want to negate the sentence with "have got to", how should we do? Shall I still use "don't/doesn't"?

It doesn't have got to be hot in Florida now. (Like here, is this sentence OK?)

Please enlighten me with this. Thank you very much