Linguist Forum
Specializations => Morphosyntax => Topic started by: Natalia on August 24, 2015, 10:15:44 AM
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Let’s say that I work as a teacher and now I have a six-week summer holiday.
Can I say:
I’m having too much free time now.
or it would be better to use the present tense:
I’ve got too much free time now.
Could you comment on this, please?
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As a very simple rule, "I'm having" is never used when it refers to a simple object like "time" or "book".
Instead, use: I've got / I have
The only exceptions are where "have" combines idiomatically with certain objects: "I'm having a good time", "I'm having a bad day", and where it doesn't really mean "have", but "experiencing".
Memorize these exceptions (they're generally common expressions), but assume in general you should not say "I'm having". The phrase "I'm having a book" would never be said by a native speaker under any circumstances. ("free time" works the same way.)
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Thank you, I'll keep that in mind for the future. Obviosuly, I know that "have" meaning "possess" cannot be used in the continuous form, but sometimes I just get a bit confused about all that.
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That's the simple answer here, I guess: "have free time" means "possess free time", even though it is an abstract idea, rather than a concrete possession.