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Ask for help > Must and have to: laws, rules...
Must and have to: laws, rules...
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Fafela
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Must and have to: laws, rules...
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Hi, everyone I have a question about modal verbs “must and have to”, mainly when it comes to laws, rules etc. I’ve been reading a lot about it because I was a little confused. Some explanations I’ve read say that we use “must” for rules and laws, but others say we use “have to” for it. Now I’m totally confused. How should I teach this? Could it have anything to do with British or American English? Thank you in advance. |
30 Apr 2016
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georginasantanna
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Hi! When I was studying English at university I was told that must was an internal obligation and have to an external one. I know it doesn �t have to do with British or American English but now I am not sure, which one is internal and which one is external, so let us hope a native speaker can enlighten you about it. I �m sorry I wasn �t of much help! |
30 Apr 2016
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Apodo
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I think we use �must � and �have to � more interchangeably than the rules you learn would indicate. It often depends on the context. Must is probably better to talk formally about laws By law you must stop at a stop sign. By law you have to stop at stop signs. I must phone my mum and arrange a time to go shopping. I have to phone my mum and arrange a time to go shopping. You must not smoke within 4 metres of the entrance. You have to be more than 4 metres away from the entrance if you want to smoke. |
30 Apr 2016
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WanderingJoe
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I think you mean �must � as the internal obligation, your conscience, so to speak. "I must call my Mum" is because I feel guilty that I haven �t called her for ages. It �s my conscience telling me to do it. It �s therefore a bit confusing that we do also tend to use �must � for formal rules, which we could call �external �. E.g " Customers must not smoke within 4 metres of the pub entrance". You would not normally see �have to � used in this sense of �prohibition �, but we do use �have to � when the thing we have to do is not due to our internal �conscience � but because of some external pressure or obligation. " I �m going to bed early tonight, I have to be at work at 8am for a meeting". We use �have to � for external pressures and expections which we really have to stick to, or risk losing our jobs etc. This is why it is confusing that we usually see "must" used on signs which prohibit us (externally) from doing something. " Passengers must not leave their seats until the red signal stops flashing".
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30 Apr 2016
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WanderingJoe
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In Apodo �s example above, I think " I have to phone my Mum to arrange to go shopping" is not because of conscience or guilt, but because the consequences of not doing so are serious for him in some way. It depends on the relationships involved of course. If I used �have to � in this case, it would be because I might be afraid my Mum would be offended if I didn �t, or that she was expecting me to, and would be upset if I didn �t. In other words, my life would be made unpleasant in some way. When we use �must �, it implies that side of our conscience which acts out of love because it wants to do "the right thing", not out of obligation or duty. |
30 Apr 2016
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yanogator
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I agree with Apodo that "must" and "have to" have become nearly interchangeable, except in the formal statement of rules and laws, when we usually use "must". I disagree with WanderingJoe. For regular activities, such as calling your mother, "must" indicates an obligation, whether internal or external, and "have to" can actually be literal, meaning that you have it on your list of things to do. However, it isn �t as simple as that, because "have to" can also mean there is an obligation, again either internal or external. Bruce |
1 May 2016
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Fafela
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Thank you, everybody, for all your help! |
2 May 2016
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