In Modals^x, Auxiliaries^x, Idioms^x

Have to is a semi-auxiliary (a modal idiom) and be is a bare infinitive object/verb complement. I have to go. Do you really have to?

Others : Had Better, be Supposed to, be Used to, be Accustomed to etc. others = modal idioms "Why we call semi-modals and others instead of saying all of them modal" because they are intermediate between auxiliaries and main verbs. I daren't jump -- You mustn't jump I do not...

Thank you to all those who have posted their suggestions to my little imagination game. Some have taken it very seriously thinking they would have to relearn English after the 'changes'. This was meant to be just a game, not for those wo take everything seriously, and of course in this game...

Most grammars (at least the ones I have) list had better as a modal idiom, and offer no etymology. Fowler's Modern English Usage says: "The word had in this phrase is not the mere auxiliary of mood or tense, but a true verb meaning find : You had better do it = You would find to-do-it better ."

I checked in a new book, "The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language", which is intended as a rival to Quirk. Following is an excerpt concerning "had better". I don't understand most of it, but presumably Pemmican & Miriam will. I was surprised to see that dropping the "had", as in, "You...

Tony Mountifield (Email Removed) writes: Right. English modal auxiliaries, however, unlike German ones, are defective verbs and don't have any inflected forms, which includes infinitives (the infinitive inflection is -0 -- 'zero'), and therefore must always be the first auxiliary in...