Confusing English Grammar: “HAVE” or “HAVING”?

When do you use “have” and when is “having” correct? In this easy-to-follow English grammar lesson, I’ll show you how to use both forms correctly and naturally. You’ll learn the difference between dynamic and stative verbs, as well as simple and continuous tenses. We’ll also look at lots of examples, so you can avoid mistakes, improve your English, and communicate with confidence! Test your understanding of this lesson with the quiz: https://www.engvid.com/confusing-english-grammar-have-or-having/

Learn to fix more common English errors with my course: https://10.bexenglish.com
More of my Confusing English Grammar lessons:
"THERE IS" or "THERE ARE"? https://youtu.be/Mp6SYj9w5mo
5 confusing indefinite pronouns https://youtu.be/Qkzyq65bQrw

In this lesson:
0:00 "HAVE" or "HAVING"?
2:48 Dynamic Verbs & Stative Verbs
7:21 When is "have" a stative verb, and when is it dynamic?
13:51 Quiz

TRANSCRIPT:
The verb "to have" is one of the most commonly used verbs in English, yet it's also one of the most challenging. So, let's find out first if you're using it correctly, and then I'll explain how to use it and how not to use it. Okay? Let's get started.

So, we have eight sentences on the board. Some are correct and some are incorrect. So, I want you to tell me which ones are right, which ones are wrong. Number one, "I'm having a job." Right or wrong? That one is wrong. Now, afterwards, I'm going to explain to you exactly why it's wrong and so on, okay? But for now, let's go through them first, and then we'll do it again. Number two, "They're having fun." Right or wrong? This one is correct. Number three, "The company is having 200 employees." What do you say? That one is incorrect. Number four, "We're having a meeting." Right or wrong? This is fine. Number five, "She's not having a visa." That one is wrong. Number six, "Are you having a credit card?" That is also wrong. Number seven, "I'm having an idea." What do you say? Sorry, that's wrong. And number eight, "He has a headache." That one is correct. Okay? So, how did you do? Did you have several questions there? Okay? So now, I'm going to explain to you exactly how we understand the verb "to have", why some of these issues arise, and how you can understand them and start using this very, very common verb correctly and confidently.

Now, let's understand why some of those answers were right and some were incorrect, and what it is that's special about the verb "to have" versus other verbs. So, first, let's look at verbs in general. So, some verbs in English can be classified as dynamic, and other verbs can be classified as stative. As you know, we can divide verbs in many different ways, like regular, irregular, and this is another way. Dynamic or stative. So, let's understand what that means.

So, dynamic verbs, in general, describe some kind of actions. They might be physical actions or even mental actions, such as the verb "work" or "play" or "read" or "sleep". What is special about them, this dynamic state that we talked about? These dynamic verbs can be used in all tenses. That means we can use them in the simple tenses and in the continuous tenses, okay? The continuous tenses are the ones which have the -ing form. For example, we could say "I work", "I am working" in the present. "I worked", "I was working". "I will work", "I will be working". "I have worked", "I have been working". But "work" is a along with many, many others, and most verbs are dynamic. We can use them in the simple forms, the simple tenses, and the continuous tenses, right? So, there's no problem. We just adjust according to whatever we're talking about.

However, on the other side, we have this special group, just for you, of verbs called stative verbs. So, here, we have either the verb is dynamic or the verb is stative. So, there are some verbs which are always stative. Just like here, there are some verbs which are always dynamic and can use all tenses. There are some verbs that are always stative, and what does that mean? The stative verb describes a state or a condition. I know it's a little challenging to understand that, but let's look at the examples. Verbs like "I know", "I believe", "I like", "I understand". These verbs are examples of stative verbs. What does that mean? For you, grammatically, or in terms of using it, it means that you can only use it in some tenses. You can use it in all the simple tenses, but you cannot use any of the stative verbs in a continuous tense. Alright? So, you could say "I know", but you cannot say "I am knowing". You could say "I understand", but not "I am understanding". Okay? So, that's what's important there. Okay?

So, that's the first point that you should know in general, and you need to know for all verbs. Is it a dynamic verb or a stative verb? […]