You're right, Scott. "Have to," "used to" and "ought to" (aka *hafta*, *
useta*, *oughta*) are sometimes called quasimodals. (I don't think that was
Victor Hugo's idea, but I could be wrong).

Dick

On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 1:40 PM, Scott Woods <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear List,
>
> Is it reasonable to think of "have + infinitive" as a modal construction
> with the infinitive being the verb of the sentence?
>
> <I have to go> <I have to eat> <I ought to go> < I ought to eat> <I must
> go> <I must eat> all seem like very similar ways of saying the same thing.
>
> Thanks,
> Scott Woods
>
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