A quiestion concerning the Present Progressive form

[Silva123]

Hallo Torsten,

would you please tell me if there exists a Present Progressive Form

of " must" ?

Thank you very much

Silva123

[Alan]

Hi,

As you know 'must' is a so called defective verb because it doesn't have a full range of parts - infinitive/past and present participle. This is similar to 'can' and 'may'. In all these cases we have to use substitute forms to make up for the missing parts. In the case of 'must' we often use 'have' as in: I must walk to work now because I can't afford a car = I have to walk to work now because I can't afford a car. If we wanted to change 'must' in this context into a present progressive form, we would say: I am having to walk to work ...

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Three Letters for You?