Page 118 - Basic English Usage

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153 have (got): possession, relationships etc

We can use have to talk about possession, relationships, illnesses, and
the characteristics of people and things (for example in descriptions).
We can use do in questions and negatives.
They hardly have enough money to live on.
Do you have any brothers or sisters?
The Prime Minister had a bad cold.
My grandmother didn’t have a very nice character.

In British English, we often use the structure / have got to talk about
possession, relationships etc. / have got means exactly the same as
| have — it is a present tense, not a present perfect.
Questions and negatives are made without do.
They’ve hardly got enough money to Jive on.
Have you got any brothers or sisters? | haven’t got much hair.
Got-forms are used mostly in the present: / had gof is unusual. They are
informal: we use them very often in conversation, but less often in, for
example, serious writing.
We do not use got-forms to talk about repetition or habit. Compare:
I’ve got toothache.
/ often have toothache. (NOT #ve-eften-gettoothache:-)
We haven’t got any beer today, |'m afraid.
We don’t often have beer in the house.

Note that we do not use progressive forms of have for these meanings.
| have a headache. ORI’ve got a headache.
(NOT #-having-aheadache-)

154 have: actions

We often use have + object to talk about actions. (For example: have a
drink, have a rest.) In these expressions, have can mean ‘eat’, ‘drink’,
‘take’, ‘do’, ‘enjoy’, ‘experience’ or other things — it depends on the noun.
Common expressions:
have breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner/a meal/a drink/coffee/a beer/a glass
of wine
have a bath/a wash/a shave/a shower/a rest/a lie-down/a sleep/a
dream
have a holiday/a day oft/a good time/a nice evening/a bad day
have a talk/a chat/a conversation/a disagreement/a row/a quarrel/a
fight/a word with somebody
have a swim/a walk/a ride/a game of tennis, football etc
have a try/a go -