Learn English – What’s the meaning of “has to say”

meaning-in-context

I’d like to sort through the hype and hoopla and figure out what the evidence has to say.

If this phrase is mentioning something happened in the past, why to is there, because due to the presence of to, i feel this phrase is mentioning an future action.

Best Answer

This isn't "has" used in the context of "has been;" i.e., it is not part of a verb phrase that indicates past or past-perfect tense. The definition of "has" being used here indicates possession:

"Let's see what the hardware store has for sale."

The phrase you should really be looking at here is:

what the evidence has

The speaker is indicating that the evidence has something.

to say

This infinitive qualifies whatever the evidence has, indicating that the something is something that can be "said." In this context they do not mean that the evidence literally speaks, but that the evidence has some information that could be enlightening to the speaker.

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