PART 3: DARE
Examples:
She daren't/dare not interrupt him. (She has not the courage to interrupt him.)
An AIDS test had been performed on her, but I dared not ask her about it in case it had proved positive. (formal)/
An AIDS test had been performed on her, but I did not dare to ask her about it in case it had proved positive.
I thought he would not dare to tell her the whole truth.
How dare you (call me a liar)! (This is indignant!)
If you dare do this again, you will be severely punished.
How did you dare to lock me up! You'll suffer for this!
I dare you to speed the car up. (I challenge you to speed it up.)
Don't you dare!/You dare! (I am your mother, father, and so forth. If you do what you intend, I'll make sure you receive what you deserve.)
I dare say/daresay you are right, but I'll do it my way. (OK! You are right. Even so, I'll do it my way.)
I dare say/daresay they will come. (They will probably come.)
Dare is a semi-modal auxiliary verb because we can make the negative and the interrogative with
do or without, depending on the meaning. At times, either form is possible. However, if we use
do,
to should be mentioned when we have an infinitive after dare. In spite of this, some people leave it out in an informal style.
To must be dropped when
do is not used.
Dare without
to is only possible in negative (including negative words, such as
hardly, nobody, never, seldom) and interrogative sentences and in conditional clauses.
Dare say/daresay is only used with
I.
Complete the following sentences with
dare.
a I knew he __________ (not) to release the prisioners.
b I __________ (not) ask her age. She may not like it.
c How you __________ come home late!
d I __________ say he was charged with murder.
e —Daddy! I'm going to light a fire!
—You __________!
f —You __________ to tell her?
—No, I didn't.
g —I've read your diary.
—How you __________?
h I __________ you to dive off the springboard.
i —My application was turned down yesterday.
—How they __________ to turn it down!
j They __________ me to jump out of this window yesterday.
PART 4: HAVE, GET, BECOME, GROW, GO, TURN, FALL, FEEL AND BE
Put the verbs in brackets as appropriate.
1 Examples:
I've got/have (got) a blouse.
I haven't (got)/have not (got) any socks.
Have you (got) a hair-drier?
He's got/has (got) a pullover.
She hasn't (got)/has not (got) high-heeled shoes.
Has it (got) a handle?
We've got/have (got) enough flour.
You haven't (got)/have not (got) a towel.
Haven't they (got) any pineapple juice?/Have they not (got) any pineapple juice?
Have got means 'possess' here. The third person singular form is
has got;
have got is used for the other persons.
Got can be omitted in a formal style.
a She (have) got two fridges.
b —He (have) got a return ticket?
—No, he (not have).
c They (not have) got a lot of stamps.
d You (have) got a lot of chums?
e I (not have) got a torch.
2 Examples:
I don't usually have time to study. (a habit)
I haven't got time to study. (now)
She has got a beautiful smile. (a characteristic)
I've got four children. (a fact)
If there is the idea of
habit,
do is used in the interrogative and in the negative, and
got is impossible. If not,
have is used without
do.
Got is generally avoided in a formal context. Nonetheless, in American English,
do is possible in all the examples above. This usage is, however, becoming common in British English as well. In the simple past,
got is normally left out, and
did is preferred to form the negative and the interrogative:
She had a terrible illness.
She did not have/didn't have a terrible illness.
Did she have a terrible illness?
Less usual and more formal:
She had not/hadn't a terrible illness.
Had she a terrible illness?
In the future, conditional, present perfect, past perfect, gerund and infinitive,
got is never used:
You
will have better working conditions.
a The sun is very strong, and Nora (not have) sunglasses. Can you lend her your spare pair?
b You (have) any mushrooms? You need some to prepare the pizza I told you about.
c He (have) ten brothers.
d I generally (not have) headaches.
e They (have) migraine.
3 Examples:
I'm having breakfast now.
Have a sandwich!/Have a drink!
Did you have a row with your wife?
I don't have a nap very often.
We had a good time in Eivissa last summer.
Have can mean 'drink', 'eat', 'take', and so on. In this case, it can be used in continuous (or progressive) tenses, and
got cannot be added.
a He (have) tea now.
b Ian (have) whipped cream for dessert yesterday evening.
c We (not have) dinner now.
d She (have) a shower when he called her?
e They never (have) long conversations.
4 Examples:
I have/have got to ring her up. (present obligation)
I don't have/haven't got to ring her.
Do I have to ring her up?/Have I got to ring her up?
I have to get up early in the morning. (a routine)
I don't have to get up early in the morning.
Do I have to get up early in the morning?
Have to is more commonly used without
got, and with
do (in the interrogative and negative) when we refer to present obligation. When there is the idea of habit (or routine),
got is impossible, and
do is necessary.
Got should be avoided in the simple past, and should never be mentioned in future, conditional or perfect tenses.
Have to never takes continuous tenses. See
unit 22, sections 19, 20, 21 and 23.
a I (have) to replace this old machine with a new one.
b Diana usually (not have) to rise from bed early in the morning, but tomorrow she (have) to.
c She (have) to work long hours every day.
d They (have) to make their own arrangements when they went on a cruise last year.
e We (have) to buy a map, or else we won't reach our destination.
5 Examples:
I had my house painted. (= The painter painted my house.)
She is having her face made up. (= The make-up girl is making her face up.)
He will have to have his car mended. (= A mechanic will have to mend his car.)
She didn't have her windows cleaned last week. (= The window cleaner did not clean her windows last week.)
Do you have your suits starched? (= Does your dry-cleaner starch your suits.)
Have + object + past participle means that someone does something for us or to us. This construction can be used in continuous tenses.
Get is an alternative to have in an informal style, and often imply some sort of difficulty (or effort) or the idea of having something to do:
I had my car smashed in an accident. (It was not my fault.)
I got my car smashed in an accident. (I was driving too fast; and probably, I was partly responsible for the accident. If I had been driving more slowly, I might have seen the car, which jumped the lights, coming down the road, and stopped my car in time.)
Finally, I got the document signed. (despite all the difficulties)
Rewrite the following sentences using the structure seen in the examples.
a I'm going to employ a glazier to glaze all my windows.
b The barber is shaving my beard tomorrow morning.
c An electrician is installing a burglar alarm at home this afternoon.
d The dentist took out two of her teeth.
e Somebody burnt a hole in my jacket when I was dancing.
6 Examples:
I must have the plumber repair the tap. (= I must make the plumber repair the tap.)
I must get the plumber to repair the tap. (= I must make the plumber repair the tap.)
If the object is a person, we use an infinitive
:
have + person + an infinitive without 'to' (formal) or
get + person + an infinitive with 'to' (informal). Instead of an infinitive, we can also use a present participle (
infinitive + -ing) if there is the idea of a progressive action:
She had everybody looking at her. (formal)
She got her children studying again. (informal)
Rewrite the following sentences using the structure seen in the examples.
a My husband must wash the dishes.
b Peter will have to change the tiles of the roof.
c The gardener must come to cut the hedge.
d The bricklayer came to erect the wall of my garden yesterday.
e Everybody is dancing because of the music.
7 Examples:
I got it ready.
I got my daughter ready for the party.
I'm getting ready.
He is getting/becoming tired. (
Get is informal;
become, formal)
He got/was caught for committing the crime. (
Get is informal;
be, formal.)
Insert
be, become or
get in the spaces provided.
a Your chinawear __________ broken.
b Unfortunately, he __________ the sack, and had to beg.
c Wait a moment! I'm __________ dressed!
d She __________ pregnant and had to __________ married.
e She __________ famous and __________ a lot of money. Now she's lost popularity, but she's stinking rich.
8 Examples:
She is getting/becoming/growing old/tall/prettier and prettier.
It's getting/becoming/growing dark.
You are going blind/bald/insane/crazy.
The milk has gone sour/off.
My calculator has gone down.
My television set has gone wrong twice this year.
If my brakes hadn't gone, I wouldn't have had the accident.
I'm on the dole, as the factory I worked for went bankrupt three months ago.
This cardigan is going at/in the elbows.
The trees are going/turning green.
She went/turned as red as a beetroot when he told her that he was mad about her.
She fell in love with him.
She fell ill.
He fell asleep.
Night fell.
As a general rule, we can say that
go and
turn (more formal) are used of colours;
go, of mental or physical illnesses, of food that is no longer eatable and of things that have stopped functioning, or are worn out. We
fall asleep/ill/in love, and so forth. For any other type of process, we normally use
get (informal) and
become (formal).
Grow is an alternative to
get or
become, but implies a slow change.
Be, feel, and so on, do not entail any kind of process or change:
She is tired. (now)
She is growing tired. (little by little)
Insert
become, fall, get, go, grow or
turn in the spaces provided.
a He is __________ deaf. He will have to do something about it.
b Night was __________, and she was __________ frightened because she was lost and darkness terrified her.
c Dennis is __________ mad.
d My eyesight is __________. I must have my eyes tested.
e The ceiling of this room is __________ black because of your smoking.
9 Examples:
He has already spent the money I gave him.
This time tomorrow, I'll have had my three bad teeth taken out.
She will have been married for twenty years by the end of this month.
They have been working here since they were sixteen.
They hadn't unwrapped all the parcels when I phoned them.
We wanted to go for a picnic very early in the morning, but we had to stay at home because it had been snowing the previous night.
He could have unveiled the statue.
Have is an auxiliary verb in all the examples above, because it is used to form perfect tenses.
Complete the following sentences with have, as has been seen in the examples.
a Melinda __________ just left for Brazil.
b I __________ never been on good terms with her.
c Diana __________ run her own business for twenty-five years; but, unfortunately, she fell ill, and her sons had to take it over.
d They could __________ spurned him, but they thought it was very impolite, although he deserved it.
e Critics say that he __________ already fallen from grace before he left the country.
10 Examples:
You had better speak out/You'd better speak out.
He had better not see her off at the airport/He'd better not see her off at the airport.
We had better stay here, hadn't we?/We'd better stay here, hadn't we?
Hadn't we better interrupt their conversation?
Had better means more or less the same as
should or
ought to.
Had better is not very common in the interrogative, unless we use a negative interrogative sentence.
Comment on these situations with
had better.
a It's very cold outside.
b This colour doesn't match the curtains.
c The light has gone out!
d She is leading a very stressful life.
e Your son is growing sleepy.
11 Revision exercise.
PART A
Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning. Use one of the constructions seen above (part
4).
Example:
I must make my wife mend the fuse.
I must get my wife to mend the fuse/I must have my wife mend the fuse.
a We want to ring up a builder to put up a house here.
b A house belongs to me. (This sentence is awkward as it stands now.)
c It was necessary for us to vote by a show of hands.
d Every day she is prettier.
e They should wear a life-jacket.
f The secretary must type this letter for me.
g Your clothes are dirty. This happens every time you play football.
h They are in Liverpool now. They are enjoying themselves very much.
i Everybody was crying because of the film.
j Someone bruised her eye in a fight.
PART B
Fill in the blanks with one of the verbs given above (part
4).
a He __________ got the password.
b We __________ to pay cash on the nail, because they didn't sell on credit.
c We are going to __________ a baby.
d You'll __________ to stir it, otherwise it won't be fit to drink.
e I __________ no mercy, since they had been very cruel to me.
f They __________ just cleared the table when she came in.
g I __________ uneasy, so I went home.
h The traffic light __________ green, so we continued our journey.
i The fish __________ __________ off, so we couldn't eat it.
j John is very ugly. Besides, he is __________ bald.
k She __________ pale, and had to be taken to hospital immediately.
l We __________ better pay the ransom.
m This bread __________ __________ stale.
n They will __________ to enforce the law.
o You __________ better not put your money into a bank account.
p He __________ his eyesight tested last week.
PART 5: REVISION
Use one of the verbs given in this unit (
be, get, have, and so forth), and to when necessary, to complete the blanks.
a Well, then, the light __________ red, and she __________ __________ stop the car.
b 'You __________ kidding?'
'Of course not! I __________ speaking seriously! I tell you that I __________ taken to a flying saucer last night!'
c He __________ shot dead an hour ago.
d I think it __________ about time you got down to work.
e Children __________ taller and taller at this age, so you need a lot of money to buy them clothes.
f You __________ not __________ take these tablets. They are harmful for pregnant women.
g They __________ __________ rob banks, but they __________ caught. Now they are very honest and respectable.
h I __________ __________ __________ selling things for ;next to nothing, as the people here are very poor.
i Instead of __________ better, it __________ worse.
j How did you __________ __________ decline his offer?
k I assure you that there __________ a lot of poachers. We must take drastic steps to put an end to poaching.
l I __________ you __________ hold his hand.
m John __________ __________ a lot of pocket money. Why don't you ask him to lend you some?
n There __________ __________ __________ a lot of hatred among our people, but now there __________ not.
o They can't __________ against us.
p My mother-in-law __________ hug and kiss me whenever we met.
q I'll never __________ __________ __________ wearing these earrings.
r They __________ __________ have __________ a big party, but their mother __________ ill, and __________ __________ postpone it.
s This palace __________ __________ into decay. It should
__________ restored at once, as it __________ an ancient monument.
t This bread __________ __________ hard. We __________ better cover it with a piece of cloth.
u This jacket __________ __________ at the elbows.
v —I __________ going to drink some wine, mummy.
—You __________ (not)!
w Daddy! I __________ just __________ my bike stolen.
x I must __________ my daughter __________ help me with the housework.
y You __________ better discuss this issue with your teacher.
z She __________ __________influence him , but now he hates her guts.
____________________
Note that
dare is a modal verb in this sentence, hence we do not add an
-s or
-es to the third person singular.
Have not got and
has not got can also be contracted to
've not got and
's not got, respectively. In this case,
got must not be omitted:
I've not got any socks.
She's not got high-heeled shoes.
Never remove
got in contracted affirmative sentences.
See also unit 25, section 14.
See unit 23, section 10.
The construction with
get is more commonly heard in British English than the one with
have.
Something can
turn cold, nasty, sour, violent if it suddenly becomes cold, nasty, sour, violent:
We were swimming in the sea, but the weather turned cold/nasty, and we had to go home. A person can also turn something:
He was a Latin teacher; but, as he earned very little, he turned politician.
Come is necessary in a few expressions:
If you make all my wishes come true, I'll be your wife.
Grow, get and
come can be followed by an infinitive, but
become cannot:
After a couple of months, she grew to enjoy reading.
In a day or two, she will get to rely on us.
When I had stayed there for a year, I came to get used to it.
For full details about how to form perfect tenses, see units
7 (parts 5, 6, 7, 8,
12, 13 and 14)) and
22 (section 17).