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Can I say something like such, I mean are they all right?

I will have to have some lessons.

I have to have some lessons.

I had to have some lessons.

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    [say something like this or like that. not like such.]
    – Lambie
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 20:00

1 Answer 1

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Those examples are all valid.

However, I personally avoid using multiple senses of “have” in the same sentence because that may be confusing. You can usually (but not always) replace “have to” with “need to”:

  • I will need to have some lessons.
  • I need to have some lessons.
  • I needed to have some lessons.

Once you do that, “to have” doesn’t really add anything, so you can remove it:

  • I will need some lessons.
  • I need some lessons.
  • I needed some lessons.

This becomes even more important for clarity once you get to other tenses that use “have” as a helper:

  • I will have needed some lessons.
  • I have needed some lessons.
  • I had needed some lessons.
  • Having needed some lessons, ...
  • If I had needed some lessons, ...

While “If I had had to have some lessons, ...” would be technically valid, it takes more mental effort to both read and write that correctly, whereas the “had needed” version is clear on the first try.

In the present tense only, you could also replace “have to” or “need to” with “must”:

  • I must have some lessons.
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    I disagree vehemently with the idea that OP should "avoid" the kind of repetition that occurs in his examples. Apart from anything else, in real (spoken) language, they're not even "the same" word - the first instance would normally be enunciated as haff / hat rather than have / had, because in the minds of most native speakers they're not even the same word anyway.. But native speakers are perfectly happy even with usages like You need to learn to drive to get a food delivery job. It's only learners who are bothered by such things. Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 17:26
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    @FumbleFingers I’m a native speaker and it bothers me to read or write that. I agree that I might do it in informal speech, though.
    – StephenS
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 17:31
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    @FumbleFingers Point taken; I’ve softened it to my personal preference.
    – StephenS
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 18:00
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    @FumbleFingersReinstateMonica Native speakers are not like some mysterious aliens from some unknown world with a strange taste in language . "You need to learn to drive to get a food delivery job" bothers everyone, native, non-native, anyone. Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 18:46
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    I can say that I have to have my hair cut, or a tooth extracted, or a Covid test, and do not feel any awkwardness whatsoever. Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 20:23

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