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92 Necessity
In the past simple had to is more usual than had got to. I couldn't go to the dance. I had to finish my project. c
With have to, we use do in negatives and questions. We don't have to pay. Does the winner have to make a speech? With have got to, we use have as an auxiliary. We haven't got to pay. Has the winner got to make a speech? For American English, • 303(5c). In past simple negatives and questions we almost always use did... have to, not had... got to. Did you have to wait long?
3 No necessity a
Needn't and don't have to We use needn't and don't have to/haven't got to to say that something is unnecessary. You need not always make an appointment. You do not always have to make an appointment. Often we can use either form. But there is a difference similar to the one between must and have (got) to. With needn't, the lack of necessity is felt by the speaker. With don't have to, it results from the situation. You needn't take me to the station. I can walk. You don't have to take me to the station. Alan's giving me a lift.
b
Need as an ordinary verb Need to means the same as have to. The colours have to/need to match. The figure doesn't have to/doesn't need to be exact. NOTE
a Americans use don't/doesn't need to, not needn't. • 303(9) b For This carpet needs cleaning, • 113(1). c We can also use need as a noun, especially in the phrase no need. There's no need to get up early.
c
Needn't have done and didn't need to We use these forms to talk about an unnecessary past action. If something happened which we now know was unnecessary, we usually use needn't have done. We needn't have made these sandwiches. No one's eaten any. (We made them, but it wasn't necessary.) Didn't need to usually means that the action did not happen. We didn't need to make any sandwiches. We knew that people were bringing their own. (We didn't make them because it wasn't necessary.) But we can also use didn't need to for something unnecessary that actually happened. We didn't need to make these sandwiches. No one's eaten any. We can also use didn't have to. Fortunately we didn't have to pay for the repairs.