Why SvVOPT is all the help you need

HAVE & HAVE GOT. These two ways of showing ownership or possession are all too similar in meaning, but not in grammar. Here's why that matters.

You'll probably recognise this: sentences like *Do you have got many friends??That kind of mistake typically pops up as soon as beginners start forming questions using the helping verb?to do.?

Have got?is used as an?expression?that is synonymous to simple?have, especially in British English. Its grammatical form is distinct. That little word?got?is not an afterthought, to be added indiscriminately.

So how does this expression make any sense? I just love explaining this to my students, preferably while making a deliberate show of handing one of them a book or a pencil case.

To get?means?to receive?or?to obtain. So once you've received/obtained something, then you've got it - you're in possession of it. That makes perfect sense. However,?have got?also makes a?perfect tense: the helping verb?have?is a dead give-away.?

It's no wonder that students will say *Do you have got??if their coursebook feeds them an unfamiliar present perfect tense while they're busy digesting the present simple. It's a matter of which tenses they learn first, and how, because the helping verbs are all-important.

It all comes down to basic SvVOPT - everything does. Turn SvVOPT into a question and you get?vSVOPT? If there's only SVOPT to start with, it still turns into?vSVOPT? Questions need a?helping verb. So do negatives.

As a rule, tenses show at least two verbs - the simple forms that don't are the exception. Any combination of two verbs, as in?You?have?GOT?many friends, is made up of a?helping verb?and a main verb. In this SvVOPT setting, questions and negatives are easy: if there's a helping verb, use it!

This is why students should learn the present continuous first. The all-important helping verb is already there. That way, they can easily get used to turning SvVOPT into question?vSVOPT? or negative SvxVOPT.?

I'm quite sure none of them will turn?Bob is having fun?into?*Does Bob is having fun??And those who know SvVOPT will most likely take?have GOT?in their stride, long before they get to present perfect tense.

SvVOPT rules!

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GrammarBob's continuing mission: to boldly go where no grammar has gone before and to make essential English grammar easy for all.

For those of you who are new to my posts: SvVOPT stands for the basic word order in English sentences: Subject - Verbs - Object - Place - Time.