Confusing English Grammar: “HAVE” or “HAVING”?

The verb "to have" is one of the most commonly used verbs in English, yet it's also one of

the most challenging. So, let's find out first if you're using it correctly, and then I'll

explain how to use it and how not to use it. Okay? Let's get started.

So, we have eight sentences on the board. Some are correct and some are incorrect. So,

I want you to tell me which ones are right, which ones are wrong. Number one, "I'm having

a job." Right or wrong? That one is wrong. Now, afterwards, I'm going to explain to you

exactly why it's wrong and so on, okay? But for now, let's go through them first, and

then we'll do it again. Number two, "They're having fun." Right or wrong? This one is correct.

Number three, "The company is having 200 employees." What do you say? That one is incorrect.

Number four, "We're having a meeting." Right or wrong? This is fine. Number five, "She's

not having a visa." That one is wrong. Number six, "Are you having a credit card?" That

is also wrong. Number seven, "I'm having an idea." What do you say? Sorry, that's wrong.

And number eight, "He has a headache." That one is correct. Okay? So, how did you do?

Did you have several questions there? Okay? So now, I'm going to explain to you exactly

how we understand the verb "to have", why some of these issues arise, and how you can

understand them and start using this very, very common verb correctly and confidently.

Now, let's understand why some of those answers were right and some were incorrect,

and what it is that's special about the verb "to have" versus other verbs. So, first,

let's look at verbs in general. So, some verbs in English can be classified as dynamic,

and other verbs can be classified as stative. As you know, we can divide verbs in many different

ways, like regular, irregular, and this is another way. Dynamic or stative. So,

let's understand what that means. So, dynamic verbs, in general, describe some kind of actions.

They might be physical actions or even mental actions, such as the verb "work" or "play" or

"read" or "sleep". What is special about them, this dynamic state that we talked about?

These dynamic verbs can be used in all tenses. That means we can use them in the simple tenses

and in the continuous tenses, okay? The continuous tenses are the ones which have the -ing form.

For example, we could say "I work", "I am working" in the present. "I worked", "I was working".

"I will work", "I will be working". "I have worked", "I have been working". But "work" is a

along with many, many others, and most verbs are dynamic. We can use them in the simple forms,

the simple tenses, and the continuous tenses, right? So, there's no problem. We just adjust

according to whatever we're talking about. However, on the other side, we have this special

group, just for you, of verbs called stative verbs. So, here, we have either the verb is dynamic

or the verb is stative. So, there are some verbs which are always stative. Just like here,

there are some verbs which are always dynamic and can use all tenses. There are some verbs that are

always stative, and what does that mean? The stative verb describes a state or a condition.

I know it's a little challenging to understand that, but let's look at the examples.

Verbs like "I know", "I believe", "I like", "I understand". These verbs are examples of stative

verbs. What does that mean? For you, grammatically, or in terms of using it,

it means that you can only use it in some tenses. You can use it in all the simple tenses,

but you cannot use any of the stative verbs in a continuous tense. Alright? So,

you could say "I know", but you cannot say "I am knowing". You could say "I understand",

but not "I am understanding". Okay? So, that's what's important there. Okay?

So, that's the first point that you should know in general, and you need to know for all verbs.

Is it a dynamic verb or a stative verb? So, it's either this or that, right? Yes, until now,

because now what happens? When we come to our verb of the day, "have", "have" can be dynamic

and stative. It depends on the context, depends on the situation. So, when we're talking about

some things, "have" behaves like a dynamic verb, and we can say "I have" or "I am having".

But when we're talking about other things, other kinds of situations, or activities,

or subjects, then "have" becomes a stative verb, and it can only be used in that simple form,

and not in a continuous form, in the present, or in the past, or in the future,

or in the perfect tenses. Okay? That's the theory. So, what's important then? Okay,

so you say, "Alright, so I could use it this way or that way, but how do I know when to use it?

What is that context in which I have to use it only in this way, or in this way?" That's what

I'm going to show you next. So, now let's understand the situations in which "have"

is a stative verb, and when it's dynamic. It depends on the context. Now, as you can see,

there are many more situations in which the verb "to have" is used in this stative way.

What does that mean? It means we cannot use that -ing form. But on the dynamic side, we can,

okay? We can use either way. So, let's look at the stative situations first,

the stative context. So, when we're talking about people who kind of belong to us,

or work with us, or something like that, then we can only use "have" in the stative form.

So, for example, "He has three children." "They have 17 workers." Okay? Alright? Like that.

Not "They are having". "They have". Here, it's always going to be "have", or "has", or "had",

or "will have", and so on. All the simple forms, alright? No -ing forms. That's the

basic thing you have to remember on this side. Similarly, when we're talking about objects,

not just people, but things, like "They have a nice house." "She has a blue car." Okay?

So, things. Also, something abstract. For example, you need to say "I have an idea."

"I have a suggestion." "I have a recommendation." Or, "He has an account." "She has a job."

"They have a website." We cannot use the -ing form for any of these abstract concepts, okay?

Similarly, when we're talking about qualities, such as confidence or skills, you could say

"She has a lot of confidence." "He has amazing technical skills." No -ing forms, okay?

Also, when we're describing somebody's features, okay? So, for example, you could say "She has

beautiful hair." "He has brown eyes." Things like that, okay? Next, generally speaking,

when we're talking about time. So, for example, you say "Well, I have ten minutes. I could talk

to you now." Or, "I have three hours before my flight." Right? You could use it like that. Also,

in this stative way only, no -ing. Similarly, for any health issues that one has that last for some

time, let's say. Let's say a general situation, a general disease that somebody may have,

or illness that somebody may have, or something that's happening for some time, but it's not

an emergency. So, for example, somebody could say that "I have a backache." Or,

"He has a heart condition." For those health issues also, we need to use the stative form,

okay? So, these are many examples, and what that tells you is that really for most, in most

situations, we need the stative form. However, let's go to this side. There are a few situations

in which you can, in fact, use the verb "to have" in that dynamic form. What does that mean? You

could say "I have a meeting." Or, "I'm having a meeting." You could say "I have a party on - I

have a party on Friday." Or, "I'm having a party on Friday." Okay? You can use both forms, or all

verb tenses. Dynamic means you can use all the verb tenses, right? Stative means only the simple

ones, not the continuous ones. So, when we're talking about any kind of event, then you could

use the dynamic form either way. Similarly, when we're talking about an experience, like "We're

having a good time." Or, "We're having a busy week." You can also use the dynamic form, which

means, again, that you can use, like I did, "I'm having", okay? Or, you could say, "I always have

a good time when I go on holiday." Or, "We always have a busy week." Okay? So, you could use either

the simple or the continuous forms, no problem, for experiences. Also, when you're talking about

meals, something that you eat or drink, okay? So, you could say, "I have breakfast every day at

7 o'clock." Or, "I'm having breakfast right now." "I'm having a coffee." "I always have

coffee." Okay? So, those also. So, those are some specific kinds of situations in which

you can use the verb "to have" in this dynamic form. Now, here's just a few exceptions regarding

health. Remember I said, if it's kind of an ongoing thing or something not very

urgent, then you use the stative form. But if something is happening that's urgent or it's

happening right now, then we do use the dynamic form, which means we say, "He's having", we can,

we can say, "He's having a heart attack right now." Or, "He's having surgery." Or,

"She's having difficulty speaking." Or, "She's having difficulty breathing." Or whatever it may

be. Okay? So, that's the - those are the exceptions when something is happening regarding health

that's sort of immediate and urgent. However, what I recommend, if anything is urgent and it's

health, just speak. Don't waste your time thinking about "have", "having". Just speak,

get the information out. Doctors are trained to understand what you mean, okay? And they'll ask

you questions if you need to. Most important thing is communicate. Alright? So, this gives

you a good understanding of the dynamic ways in which the verb "have" can be used and the

stative ways in which we must use the verb "to have". Now, let's go back and try that little

test that we did at the beginning and see how well you do now that you understand so much more.

Now that you've learned the stative usage of the verb "to have" and the dynamic usage of the verb

"to have", let's go back to our original quiz and see how you do this time and how you can

analyze and understand it in case you still have any questions, alright? Number one. So,

it was - the sentence said, "I'm having a job." So, try it again. Is that right or wrong now that

you know what you know about stative and dynamic uses of the verb "to have"? Is that right or wrong?

That one is wrong. And why is it wrong? Because here, we're talking about a job, right? So,

we talked about things that you own or things that you have, like a job, like an account,

they cannot be used in this way, with this dynamic expression, with the -ing form, right?

So, what do we say instead? We can only say, "I have a job", okay? So, remember, when it's dynamic,

it can be used in any verb tense, including those with -ing, including the continuous forms.

But when it's stative, we cannot use any of those -ing or continuous forms of the verb,

alright? Number two, "They're having fun." Is that right or wrong?

That one is correct. But why is it correct? It's correct because as we explained,

when we're talking about an experience, okay, like this, a fun experience, an adventure,

okay, they're having an adventure, they're having fun, then it's fine. We can use it like that.

We can use the -ing form, the dynamic form to express, to describe an experience, okay?

Next, number three, "The company is having 200 employees." Right or wrong?

It is wrong. Why? Because again, we're talking about employees. We're talking about people.

So, people that belong to you, or belong to a company, or that you have, you can only have.

So, the company has 200 employees. Just as you would say, "I have a brother", "I have a sister",

"I have some employees who work for me", like that, okay? So, the company has 200 employees.

So, when we're talking about people, we cannot use the continuous form. We can only use this form,

the stative form. Good. Number four, "We're having a meeting."

What do you say? That is correct. But why is it correct? Because we're talking about a meeting,

which is an event, and that we can use with the continuous form in the dynamic way. So,

we could say, "We're having a meeting", "We're having a conference", "We're having a training

session", "We're having a lesson", okay? So, when we're talking about events, as we saw before,

you can use it like that with the continuous form. You could also say, "We have a meeting",

"We have a meeting next week." That's also fine. Dynamic means you can go either way.

Stative means you can only use them in the simple forms, not in the continuous forms.

Good. Number five, "She's not having a visa."

That one is wrong. Again, we're talking about a visa, which is a thing, so we cannot use that

continuous form here. So, what would we have to say instead? Not "She's not having", "She

doesn't have a visa." She doesn't have a visa. She doesn't have a computer. She doesn't have

a cell phone, like that. Or, like we talked about people, she doesn't have a brother,

she doesn't have a sister, okay? Like that. So, that's that one. Let's look at number six now.

"Are you having a credit card?" That one is wrong. Same reason. Just like a visa, right? It's a

thing. It's an object, or it's something that - it's not necessarily physical, but it's something.

So, we cannot say that. We have to say what? "Do you have - do you have a credit card?" Okay?

The answer would be yes, I have a credit card, right? I have a book, I have a phone,

things like that, right? We're talking about things. And also things which are abstract,

right? We said, remember, like an account or something like that, or a website. We have

a website, right? Remember? Number seven. "I'm having an idea."

That one is incorrect, because we talked about idea. An idea is something abstract,

like I just mentioned. So, we cannot say this. We need to say, "I have an idea." Oh, I have an idea.

Even if it's happening right now, but it's an abstract concept, like an idea, or an account,

and therefore, we cannot use this continuous form there. We can only use the stative form,

which is the simple form. Oh, I have an idea. Even if it's happening right now,

you cannot express it in the other way. And the last one here, "He has a headache."

That one is correct. Why? Because we had said that health issues, like a headache, a backache,

a stomachache, a toothache, or whatever, if you're describing the fact that somebody has that,

then you have to use this stative form, right? Not with the -ing. And as I explained,

only in some situations do we use that -ing for health reasons, alright? But now, I believe not

only that you probably got more of them right, if not all of them right, but more importantly,

you understand why and what context "have" becomes a stative - uses the stative form,

and when it uses the dynamic form, alright? So, if you really want to lock this down 100%,

please go to our website, www.engvid.com, and there, you can do a quiz and really master this

very, very important verb, alright? Because we use the verb "to have" all the time, alright?

Thanks very much for watching. I know you're a serious student, because you stuck with me all

the way through to the end, and this is such an important topic, and it's going to make a

great difference to the level of your English. Bye for now. Take care.