Sep 12, 2022 12:04
2 yrs ago
32 viewers *
English term

Have / have got lunch

Non-PRO Homework / test English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters Grammar
Hello, I have a question regarding a grammar exercise I handed in my students this morning.

This was the sentence: "_________ lunch at home?"
Between the options there were "Do you have", which I considered the correct one; but most of them chose "have you got" instead. As I have never heard such expression, I was quite sure when I explained why it was incorrect. But I started to doubt it afterwards.

Is "I have got lunch" used in colloquial language? Or is it just a calque of their mother language (Italian)?

Thank you very much.
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Discussion

AllegroTrans Sep 13, 2022:
Yes Tony and Jennifer have explained this well
Yvonne Gallagher Sep 12, 2022:
With Tony And why it is so important that a professional native teacher devises the exercises and is fully confident about the correct answer
Jennifer Levey Sep 12, 2022:
It's context-dependent Contrary to what Nelly's link from https://dictionary.cambridge.org would have us believe, have got and have usually do not mean the same.

Either of the options mentioned by Asker may be correct, depending on the intended meaning, and considered in the appropriate context.

In the absence of context, Do you have lunch at home? will normally be understood as a question designed to discover whether the respondent usually has lunch at home.

In contrast, Have you got lunch at home? is a question about the respondent's luncheon arrangements for today - and also suggests that the question was asked before lunchtime. A similar question asked in the afternoon, would be Did you get/have lunch at home?.

And here's a couple of questions for Asker: Are those the only two options offered in the exercise? If not, what other options were available?
Tony M Sep 12, 2022:
@ Asker That answer would not be wrong, but would express a slightly different — and it has to be said, much less common — idea.
"Have you got lunch at home?" could mean "Oh, you don't want to eat now, as you have lunch already prepared for you at home"
It could also mean "Do you have anything at home you can eat for lunch, or would you like to eat here?"
And finally, 'have you got..." can sometimes indicate a commitent of some kind: "Have you got choir practice this week?" — in other wods, "maybe that's why you don't want to have lunch with me now, as you are planning to have lunch at home"
But none of these is really appropriate for what would appear to be your learners here!
This is a good example of why devising exercises is actually quite hard, to make sure that they are so worded as to actually elicit the desired correct response!

Responses

+2
5 hrs
Selected

usuallly have/have made provision for

Do you have? means do you usually eat lunch at home. Have you got? means have you got the food for lunch at home so you (or we) can eat it later.
Example sentence:

Have you got lunch at home? No, I haven't had time to go shopping.

Do you have lunch at home? No, I always eat out.

Peer comment(s):

agree Kiet Bach : Both are correct, but they have different meanings, so this is a faulty exercise question.
30 mins
agree AllegroTrans
18 hrs
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : we still don't know intention/ have proper context so it could indeed be either meaning or even the 3rd suggested by Tony of obligation.
22 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
7 hrs

Do you have lunch at home...

In the context, this must be right. The point is that in US English, the phrase 'have got' indicating possession is not used. The question 'do you have...' is used instead of 'have you got....'. As a result, some English speakers and learners get them mixed up. The earlier differentiation about having the food at home is absolutely correct.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Jennifer Levey : "In the context ..." You are assuming a specific context to which none of us is (yet...) privvy. Nor do we have any indication of which variant of English Asker has in mind.
51 mins
neutral AllegroTrans : "Have got" IS used in UK English. I agree with Jennifer.
17 hrs
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

4 hrs
Reference:

Do you have

In British English have got or have mean the same. But have got is more informal. We use have (got) to talk about possession, relationships, characteristics and illnesses.
Peer comments on this reference comment:

disagree Sheila Wilson : It's true in some cases, but not all. This is a case where it is not true.
36 mins
disagree Jennifer Levey : Agree absolutely with Sheila.
41 mins
disagree Yvonne Gallagher : No they are not the same here
1 hr
disagree AllegroTrans : They frequently do not have the same meaning
20 hrs
Something went wrong...
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