Learn English – Difference between “eat rice” and “have rice”

differences

Consider the following 2 questions:

  1. Do you eat rice for breakfast in the morning?
  2. Do you have rice for breakfast in the morning?

My questions are:

Are both questions acceptable? If they are, are there any difference in meaning?

Best Answer

They can both mean the same thing, but it all depends on context.

Both sentences can mean:

Is rice one of foods you typically eat during your morning breakfast?

However, Question #2 could mean something different. Let's say I was staying at your house overnight, and I was on a special diet that required me to have rice in the morning for breakfast. I might ask you:

Do you have rice for breakfast in the morning?

which, in that context, could be paraphrased as:

Is there any rice in your pantry, so that we can cook it for breakfast in the morning?

Because the word have has more than one meaning (only one of which is synonymous with eat), the second question can mean different things in different contexts.