Thread: have GOT a... or have a...

Hello, everybody.
Americans often use first or second variant ?
And what about the English people?

1) I have got a guitar...
2) I have a guitar...

Sorry for so easy question. )

As far as I remember "... have got..." is a bit more common in the UK than the US, but you'll hear both forms in both locations.

And with a grammatical viewpoint what will bee correct?

Both are correct. In British English you will ask "have you got...?" and say "I have got..." whereas in the US you will ask "do you have...?" and "I have", but in today's world the Atlantic isn't what it used to be and the two may influence each other. It's not as if the UK overdub US movies, for example. (Though there are examples of books being edited and adapted when they cross the ocean.)

This post isn't in the correct folder, by the way, there are folders for discussing English, too. This one is for Russian.

Originally Posted by bitpicker

Both are correct. In British English you will ask "have you got...?" and say "I have got..." whereas in the US you will ask "do you have...?" and "I have"

Hmm, I think for most Americans (or at least in the regions of America I've lived), "I've got..." and "I have..." are both fairly common and equally interchangeable.

I agree 100% with zxc that in American speech, "I have got a guitar," and "I have a guitar" are equally common and interchangeable, and I think that most Americans today would not consider "I have got..." to be a "Britishism."

However, NB: the contracted form "I've a guitar" is not commonly heard in American speech -- one should either use the non-contracted form "I have," or else follow the contraction "I've" with "got." And this is true for the other personal pronouns, too:

1. They have a lot of apples. (GOOD)
2. They have got a lot of apples. (GOOD)
3. They've got a lot of apples. (GOOD)
4. They got a lotta apples. (CAUTION...)
5. They've a lot of apples. (BAD!)

The fifth construction (contracting "have" but without "got") might be seen in older poetry, music, and literature, but otherwise it is rare and uncolloquial in US English -- it's not grammatically wrong, but it's sounds strangely old-fashioned. If I heard someone say "I've ten dollars in my wallet," I would think: Гмммм, он либо англичанин, либо забытый советский шпион, которому не передавали, что Холодная Война закончилась, либо мартиянин -- а во всяком случае, не настоящий пиндос!

The fourth construction (dropping the contracted form of "to have" and just saying "got") is commonly heard, especially in youth and African-American speech, but tends to sound either slang-y or uneducated.

The first three constructions are all equally correct, but I would probably use #1 in formal writing and #3 in my normal conversational speaking.

Thank you for such full answer ).