I've just got + obj + to + V

pash · Sep 23, 2006

Does this appear in your variant of English?

I've just got my coat to put on and I'll be right with you.

And am I correct in thinking that it expresses necessity and not really possession?

Deleted member 42 · Sep 23, 2006

Yes; and the use of "got" in that fashion is markedly American, and even there, it's dialect determinative.

Using "got" this way used to be, a long time ago, a dialect marker for Northern forms of Middle English; got is from Old Norse, and Norse influenced Scots and Northumbrian English much more than it did more southerly forms.

See the Blessed American Heritage Dictionary, and be sure to note the Usage note near the end of the entry.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/84/G0108400.html

pash · Sep 23, 2006

You're a G/godsend, Medievalist. Thanks.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 23, 2006

got

pash said:
Does this appear in your variant of English?

I've just got my coat to put on and I'll be right with you.

And am I correct in thinking that it expresses necessity and not really possession?

Yes, but the syntax sounds more British than American.

pash · Sep 23, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
Yes, but the syntax sounds more British than American.

I see. Are you a speaker of AE?

pdr · Sep 24, 2006

Actually...

James, that sounds American to me. Surely the British/NZ/Oz version would be:

'I've just got to put on my coat and I'll be right with you.'

pash · Sep 24, 2006

There may arise an interesting ambiguity in the reading of the second option.

I've just got my coat to put on and I'll be right with you.(I've put everything else on except for my coat)

I've just got to put on my coat and I'll be right with you. (I'm going to come to you naked except for my coat.)

Deleted member 42 · Sep 24, 2006

Pash, there's no way that

I've just got to put on my coat and I'll be right with you.

Can mean

I'm going to come to you naked except for my coat.

The use of "got" in this instance has it functioning as an intensifier; "I've got to put on my coat -- implying that no matter what the circumstances are, I'm going to put on my coat.

Keep in mind that language works in context, so removing the context effectively changes the interpretation.

In a standard colloquial British context, I would expect to see

"I've just to put on my coat and I'll be right with you."

This is colloquial; in more formal British English, I would expect to see
"Just let me put on my coat and I'll be right with you."

This would also be standard American English.

pash · Sep 24, 2006

OK, Medievalist, I get it now. Thanks again.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 24, 2006

pdr said:
James, that sounds American to me. Surely the British/NZ/Oz version would be:

'I've just got to put on my coat and I'll be right with you.'

This is the way we would say it aorund here. It may just be the regions where I've lived, but I've never heard an American say I've just got my coat to put on.

It's always I've just got to put my coat on, or I just have to put my coat on.

"Got to" is, at least in my experience, far more American than British. I'be got to put on my coat, I've got to go to the storre, etc.

pdr · Sep 24, 2006

Yes, I know...

James. We were always told at school that: "Got to" was a nasty American expression and not good English.

brianm · Sep 24, 2006

Being N. Irish I would say... "I've just my cost to put on." Got sounds very American to me...

"I've got ten bucks, how much do you have?"

Deleted member 42 · Sep 24, 2006

Got entered American English primarily through people who spoke Scots and Northumbrian dialects in the seventeen hundreds.

It was identified as a "pernicious" habit of speech by Noah Webster. It's been treated, in the past, as a class marker.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 24, 2006

Got to

pdr said:
James. We were always told at school that: "Got to" was a nasty American expression and not good English.

It is a nasty American habit. As nasty and as American as anything can be. That's my point. Nasty or not, it's the way all the Americans I know speak. It's even the way I speak in causal conversation.

JennaGlatzer · Sep 25, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
This is the way we would say it aorund here. It may just be the regions where I've lived, but I've never heard an American say I've just got my coat to put on.

It's always I've just got to put my coat on, or I just have to put my coat on.

"Got to" is, at least in my experience, far more American than British. I'be got to put on my coat, I've got to go to the storre, etc.

Just posting to agree entirely with this. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say it like the OP wrote it.

pash · Sep 25, 2006

pdr said:
James. We were always told at school that: "Got to" was a nasty American expression and not good English.

Like this, "can't speak now, I got to/gotta/godda go" it's ugly, but as "I've got to go" it's British English and fine.

pash · Sep 25, 2006

have got to/have + obj

To me, there is an important difference between:

I've just got my coat to put on then I'll ...

I've just got to my put my on my coat then I'll ...
-----

The first can mean "that's the last item of clothes I have yet to put on" (only referring to dressing) and the second can mean "putting my coat on is the last thing of all things here that I have to do" (the last action of all types of action).

Jamesaritchie · Sep 25, 2006

Got

pash said:
To me, there is an important difference between:

I've just got my coat to put on then I'll ...

I've just got to my put my on my coat then I'll ...
-----

The first can mean "that's the last item of clothes I have yet to put on" (only referring to dressing) and the second can mean "putting my coat on is the last thing of all things here that I have to do" (the last action of all types of action).

Probably right, but you have to include the rest of the sentence to get full understanding.

davidthompson · Sep 25, 2006

JennaGlatzer said:
Just posting to agree entirely with this. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say it like the OP wrote it.

I'd say it either like the OP: "I've just got my coat to put on and I'll be right with you" or the other way, "I've just got to put my coat on...," but I think the OP's version might seem a little more natural.

It would also seem equally natural to say, "I just have my coat to put on..."

Supposedly I speak American English from the southern Ohio, western West Virginia region.

pdr · Sep 25, 2006

Ah!

It's been treated, in the past, as a class marker.

Actually it still is. Despite all the talk of a classless society in Europe and the Commonwealth, people are still judged by their accents and the way they speak.

pash · Sep 25, 2006

pdr said:
It's been treated, in the past, as a class marker.

By who/m?

;-)

Deleted member 42 · Sep 25, 2006

Any of the standard dialect texts and maps for the UK and the U.S.

Even Johnson's dictionary, in fact, treats got this way.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 25, 2006

davidthompson said:
I'd say it either like the OP: "I've just got my coat to put on and I'll be right with you" or the other way, "I've just got to put my coat on...," but I think the OP's version might seem a little more natural.

It would also seem equally natural to say, "I just have my coat to put on..."

Supposedly I speak American English from the southern Ohio, western West Virginia region.

Do you really hear everyday people speak this way? I live in the same region, and I've never, ever heard it.

pash · Sep 25, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
This is the way we would say it aorund here. It may just be the regions where I've lived, but I've never heard an American say I've just got my coat to put on.

It's always I've just got to put my coat on, or I just have to put my coat on.

"Got to" is, at least in my experience, far more American than British. I'be got to put on my coat, I've got to go to the storre, etc.

Looking at American websites on Google, I find the "I've just got my * to *" appears many times, but it tends to have the meaning of "achieve or persuade.

EG

I've just got my PC to function again.
I've just got my father to agree to...

I haven't yet found one that means "I've just/only got my * to *".

pash · Sep 27, 2006

I wrote these in an unconscious, random fashion. Which ones would you say imply: a) possession in the concrete sense; b) possession in the abstract sense; c) obligation and/or compulsion and/or necessity; d) can/am able to; e) a combination of those factors (please state the combinations); f) neither of the above?

1. I have a right to be heard.
2. I have a job to do.
3. I have a nice coat.
4. I have a nice coat to wear.
5. I have a baby to feed.
6. I have a (my) baby to feed now.
7. I have a million things to say.
8. I have a mission to accomplish.
9. I have a test to do.
10. I have a marathon to win
11. I have a marathon to run.
12. I have a book to read.
13. I have a letter to write.
14. I have letter to mail.
15. I have bill to pay.
16. I have lover to keep happy.
17. I have a car to sell.
18. I have a mountain to climb.
19. I have money to burn.
20. I have you to thank.

I've just got + obj + to + V

pash

Deleted member 42

pash

Jamesaritchie

pash

pdr

pash

Deleted member 42

pash

Jamesaritchie

pdr

brianm

Brian Boru

Deleted member 42

Jamesaritchie

JennaGlatzer

wishes you happiness

pash

pash

Jamesaritchie

davidthompson

pdr

pash

Deleted member 42

Jamesaritchie

pash

pash