"We have got to go."
"We have to go."
Which one of these phrases is appropriate? As I'm sure you've already guessed, it's option two.
This is one of my biggest pet peeves, passed down to me by my dear mother. It annoys the two of us to no end, because we also catch ourselves doing it on a regular basis.
Not. Good.
Allow me to explain.
"Got" is an extension word. It means essentially the same thing as "have", and only changes depending upon the circumstances of your sentences.
"I have chocolate."
"I got chocolate."
One means that you have it, and probably have had it for a while. The other means that you just received, or "got" it.
Putting the two together really does nothing for the sentence. It doesn't change the meaning whatsoever, and yet people do it all the time.
"Have-got" never needs to be said, because "have" will do just fine.
It's more appropriate to say "We have to go" than it would be to say "we have got to go"... and yet I've never met a person who doesn't put have and got together in this way, at least a few times a day.
What is the world coming to?!
Alas, I know how it happened.
With the addition of contractions to our language, we discovered this problem with phrases involving "I have" because these two words were contracted to "I've." It changed things like "I have to go" into "I've to go," which just sounded weird. Thus, the "got" was added and brain cells started to fade.
*wink*
[love and chocolate]
{Rani}
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