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Does keep having refer to continuous possession of something though I know that having itself shows possession?

If you keep having this car with you, I will buy it from you next year.

Could I say I keep/keep on having a car, as in I keep on buying a car? Because when I say I am having a car, it could mean I am buying a car.

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    "I am having a car" it could mean "I am buying a car." Not really or at least not really for cars. You could say "I am having the fish." at a restaurant, but it just doesn't work for purchasing a vehicle. Probably because food is consumable.
    – Yorik
    Commented Sep 17 at 17:58
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    Don't you mean: "If you still have this car next year, I'll buy it from you."?
    – Lambie
    Commented Sep 18 at 13:48
  • @Lambie yes everyone corrected me.thank you
    – Bilal Zafar
    Commented Sep 18 at 23:23

4 Answers 4

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No, keep having doesn't refer to continuous possession. To me 'having [something] with you' implies carrying it around in your pocket!

If you still have/own this car next year, I will buy it from you.

Keep [on] doing something usually means to do it repeatedly. I keep on buying cars would mean that you buy them very frequently.

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  • Thanks could you pls also clarify my point number 2 in question. Could I say "I keep on having a car" as in I keep on buying the car"
    – Bilal Zafar
    Commented Sep 17 at 8:14
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    I thought I had explained that in my second paragraph. You can say I keep on having colds (I frequently catch a cold), but you can't say I keep on having a car to mean that it remains in your possession. Say the car still belongs to me or I still have it.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Sep 17 at 8:33
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    Well, you could use 'I am having [something]' to mean 'I am going to become the owner of it', but it's more usual to say 'I am getting/buying it'.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Sep 17 at 8:40
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    No - that's what I have been trying to explain. (I used 'cars' rather than 'a car' in my example, because you don't keep on buying the same car!)
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Sep 17 at 8:45
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    It would be very odd to say "He keeps on having cars" to refer to buying them. No, of course you wouldn't talk about 'painting rooms' if you lived in a one-room house. If you 'keep on buying cars', you buy a different one each time.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Sep 17 at 12:14
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keep having is used with repeated or recurrent things:

I keep having this dream where ...

That is, I've had this dream multiple times.

I keep having these headaches.

The headaches are frequent.

keep having doesn't fit your situation of continued ownership.

If you still own this car next year, I'll buy it from you then.

I'll buy it from you next year if you haven't already sold it.

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The OP argued

Because when I say I am having a car, it could mean I am buying a car.

I'm sorry, no. The meanings of the two sentences are not interchangeable

In a restaurant

Server/waiter: Are you ready to order?

A: I'll have the fish
B: I'll get the steak
C: ? I'll buy the fish

In a bar/pub

C: What are you having?
D: Thanks, I'll have a gin and tonic if you don't mind.

When you want to pay for someone's drink, we ask: What are you having [to drink]?

You can also ask this at a restaurant when you want to know what a friend has decided to order, e.g.
   Leo: What are you having?
   Adam: I'll have the fish

The act of buying someone a drink or ordering a dish is a temporary one.

In front of a car showroom

Adam: I'm buying a car. ✅
Adam: I'm going to buy a car. ✅
Adam: I'm getting a car. ✅

A week later

Adam: I bought [myself] a car. ✅

After the purchase, Adam owns the car and can state:
Adam: I have [got] a new car. ✅

The act of possession is considered fixed even if cars can be resold and bought several times. But during the time a car is in a person's possession it is theirs permanently. It is highly unlikely that tomorrow, the day after and the day after that same person will buy a new car. And we do not normally use the Present Continuous tense to denote possession.

  1. ?I keep having a car. ❎
  2. ? I'm having a car. ❎

Sentence 2 suggest that the car is being eaten!?

  1. *? I keep on having a car ❎

Sentence 3 sounds like (I know it's impossible) the speaker is continually ordering or eating a car!

keep on

phrasal verb
1. informal: to continue happening, doing something, working, etc.
  The rain kept on throughout the day.
  He talked and talked. At one point I thought he would keep on all night.
  She kept on talking after I told her to be quiet.

What the OP should say

If you still have that car next year, I'll buy it off you.
(an informal version of Kate Bunting's suggestion)

… a question mark in front of a word, phrase or sentence indicates that the form in question is strongly dispreferred [sic], "questionable" or "strange", but not outright ungrammatical.
Wikipedia

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  • How funny. I actually wrote my comment before I read yours here.
    – Lambie
    Commented Sep 18 at 13:50
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Diving into the deep end here. Stative verbs don't use continuous tenses ie "He is wanting your car" is wrong, though "He keeps wanting my car!" or "He is taking your car" is OK ... I think the difference is that the _ing can only be used when it is just for a portion of time.

The problem with "is wanting" is that it is unbounded and forever, but "keeps wanting" implies a repeated event. So "I keep wanting to buy another motorcycle" is OK, until you run out of storage space ;)

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