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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > have got vs. has got
have got vs. has got
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silvanija
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have got vs. has got
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Hello everyone  . I really need your help with a simple sentence that has somehow turned into a tricky one. So here it goes: Sally and her brothers have got a dog. And then I have to make a question and I am not sure what the correct option is. At first, I thought it would be: Have Sally and her brothers got a dog? Yes, they have. But the question sounds somehow wrong to me and I haven �t got any explanation why. What about: Has Sally and her brothers got a dog? Yes, they have. (???) I feel that there might be something to do with one subject in singular and another in plural... Help, please . |
18 Dec 2015
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loboclaud
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Hi! Since the subject is plural (Sally and her brothers), I believe the correct option is Have Sally and her brothers.... Has Sally doesn �t make any sense to me. I hope I may have been helpful. |
18 Dec 2015
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cunliffe
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Hi guys,
Change �Sally � to the pronoun �she � and try it out. �Has she and her brothers got a dog? � or �Have she and her brothers got a dog? � We say � Has she and her brothers got a dog? � There is a rule, but I can �t remember it just now  Still can�t!
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18 Dec 2015
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Tapioca
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Hi Silvana, That happens to me all the time! The more I look at a sentence, the less sure I become about it! :-)) But I agree with lobocloud. They definitely have a dog.  Peter and Jane are in the garden.
Peter and Jane have a dog.
Do Peter and Jane have a dog? Yes, they do.
Do Peter and his family have a dog? Funny you should ask that.... 
Look up � compound subject�. Tap
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18 Dec 2015
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silvanija
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Thanks a lot for taking time to answer : ) Welcome to the boat, cunliffe :)
I prepared a test for my kids last week but when I saw all the mistakes they make I started having doubts myself.
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18 Dec 2015
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cunliffe
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Yes but ... �Have Peter and his brothers got a dog? � which was the essence of the question.. No! That is not right! |
18 Dec 2015
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Tapioca
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Lynne, that �s because you have been staring at it too long, like Silvana! Have (Peter and his brothers = they) got a dog? If I �m wrong, you can call me Rice Pudding for the next 6 months. Silvana, I know exactly what you mean. I keep forgetting to put objects after transitive verbs ("Yes, yes, I kept!") and my native-speaker friends give me weird looks. It�s kind of like a teacher�s version of the Stockholm Syndrome.  Tapioca
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18 Dec 2015
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cunliffe
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Hi again, What I was thinking of is this little phenomenon. Whereas we say �A cat and two frogs are on the window �, we say. �There is a cat and two frogs on the window. � So the question would be �Is there a cat and two frogs...? � If the verb comes first, it can agree with the noun that follows immediately. But Tap, the original question looks weird and I may have been staring at it too long... You and Loboclaud are definitely correct with �they have a dog � and so Silvanije, I am joining you on that boat. Lynne
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19 Dec 2015
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Tapioca
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Hi Lynne, Yes, I was wondering if you were thinking about the rule where �or � is used in compound subjects and the verb agrees with the �closest � of the subjects, which, if I understand it correctly, leads to sentences like this: We are not sure whether the dogs, the raccoons or the cat steals the bagels I must say to me, that feels very wrong, but apparently there �s a rule that endorses this verb agreement. It �s similar to your example with �There is � in some ways - where position overrules what (at least to me) seems logical. Tap |
19 Dec 2015
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silvanija
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Hi again . Tapioca, you made me laugh with that Stockholm Syndrome. After seeing 5 ways to spell "eight" I sometimes start thinking that it might be me who is wrong  . Lynne, after trying to solve that mystery with Sally and her brothers ;) I was also thinking if there might be something in common with "there is/are" and that confused me even more. The funny thing is that while I was teaching kids �have/has" and then preparing that test everything seemed clear to me. Hugs Silvana
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19 Dec 2015
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