Thursday, February 16, 2017

phrase usage - Use "got" or "have got"?



Could you please tell me if you got some time to read the report?



In this sentence, I have to use got or have got ? what is the difference between these two w.r.t. the meaning of the sentence?



Answer




HAVE got is an idiom equivalent to HAVE.



I've got a report to do = I have a report to do
Have you got time to read this? = Do you have time to read this?



In Standard English (whatever that is), bare got, without a form of HAVE, is simply the past form of GET. It cannot be substituted for HAVE or HAVE got. Your example would be understood to be asking whether your addressee had already read the report.


In US vernacular English, have got is often reduced to bare got:



Can't come over now, I got a report to finish.
You got time to read this?




This will pass unnoticed in conversation, but should not be emulated in any but the most casual writing. Your example should be expressed in one of these ways:



Could you please tell me if you have some time to read the report? Could you please tell me if you have got some time to read the report?



By the way, some time is unusual here in AmE; we would ordinarily say either bare time, or the time.


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