Have to vs. must?

[Canadian45]

Now I know you have been deliberately obfuscating when you have nothing sensible to say! You have lost your credibility!

I told you that all I edited was the underlining, which made no difference to any meaning, but the initial underlining was not how I intended to underline.

This is all I have to say here.

[Torsten]

Hi Canadian, Amy has been answering learners' questions, giving support to forum members and sharing her experiences with us. She has a lot of credibility with the English language fans. One of her strengths is to eplain complex language issues in a simple and straightforward manner. Anybody who reads her posts will understand that.

TOEIC listening, photographs: A container ship

[Yankee]

Canadian, I've read your "I know" statements before. We've read the false assumptions before. You seem to "know" a lot of things that nobody else knows.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Alan]

Hi Canadian,

Very little purpose is served by making derogatory remarks about fellow contributors. I am happy to second what Torsten has said and I can recall some acerbic remarks you made concerning some of my contributions. The purpose of these forums, as I have mentioned before, is to help our English learners and not indulge in the sort of unhelpful comments you have made.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Canadian45]

Ok you guys, tell me what you want me to do when someone, in my opinion, evades the issue and says something irrelevant.
Do you want me to say nothing and let others believe that the irrelevant comments are infact relevant. And why don't you make some comments about the issue and say where you stand on the disagreement, rather than just automatically supporting each other?
If you think my opinions on the English issue are wrong, say so like Amy does.

[Torsten]

Hi Canadian, as Alan tried to explain, this is not just about 'us guys'. It's about people learning English and remarks like 'You have lost your credibility!' are very irritating, especially when they refer to a person like Amy.

TOEIC listening, photographs: A super highway

[Canadian45]

Thorsten

You and others seem to have trouble looking at things objectively. The fact is that Amy lost her credibility with me when, not being able to intelligently respond to what I was saying, she resorted to spouting nonsense. I never said she knew nothing or did no good work or that she lost her credibility with everyone. Obviously, I can only speak for myself.

It is quite clear there is no room for me here.
Good bye and good luck.

Canadian45

[Nola]

Hello everybody
I think that you all confused me a little bit. I think that must = have to = have got to(UK). That's why we use (had to) if we want to use the past form for all of them.
I must do my homework.
I have to do my homework.
I have got to do my homework.(UK)
I had to do my homework.

Nola
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Nola

[Amiranow]

hi ,
How can I know the necessity ; using have to or must ?if I say "I have to go , I have a class , now ", " I must go . I have aclass". Is the time and how much I am late, or the state ; supposed I have forgotten the time of my class?
Bye

[Vakala]

Hello torsten,
I still need some more explanation about the difference between HAVE TO and MUST in their use. I've done the test and found that the only one question i did not succeed with was the one treating MUST & HAVE TO.
Best regards!!!!

[Lost_Soul]

[Vakala]

Hello torsten,
I still need some more explanation about the difference between HAVE TO and MUST in their use. I've done the test and found that the only one question i did not succeed with was the only the question with MUST and HAVE TO. I had 9 out of 10 in the test. thanks for your help.
Best Regards
Albert KHONDE

[Mallinathan]

Hi Torsten,

Thank you very much for sending lesson No.7. I did the test. As usual this time also I made one mistake. My answer to question No 3 given below was wrong.

I ......... go now because I am already late for my class.

(a) must
(b) have
(c) have to

I read the explanation from Mr. Alan that “have to “is the correct answer as must is too strong in this context and also have gone through the opinion of few others. Now my question is where should we draw the distinction? Suppose the question was: I ………….go now because I am getting late for my class. This, I feel, is a less strong case as he is not yet late and there is a possibility of making it on time if he leaves now. When compared to this can we use “must” in the first case as he is already late and if he leaves at least now he may be able to attend a portion of the class provided the teacher permits.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Best regards
Mallinathan

[Alan]

Hi Mallinathan ,

As Torsten is not here at the moment, I'll try to give another explanation of what I consider to be the distinction between 'must' and 'have to'.

The similarity is that both refer to some kind of necessity or compulsion but the difference is that 'must' is an external obligation and 'have to' is an internal one. If you look at most rules and regulations for clubs, societies or any kind of organisation, you'll usually find there is a list of things that you are required to do: You must do this/that/....In other words the organization is telling you what to do - it is an external obligation. 'Have to' on the other hand is what you personally think is necessary for you to do. That's why it is appropriate to say: I have to go now because I am already late for my class. In a way you are telling yourself that it's time to go - it's an internal obligation.

I hope this helps a little.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Mallinathan]

Dear Mr.Alan,
Thank you very much for your immediate reply. I am very clear now. Can you please explain the usage of ought to also in the same way? The usages of these three words have been very confusing for me.

Thanks and best regards
Mallinathan