Learn English – must vs have to: British usage and academic rules

british-englishhave-to-vs.mustmodal-verbs

I am teaching 'have to' vs 'must' (British English usage) and, according to the book, the difference is as follows:

must: it's necessary to do it (because the speaker says so)

have to: it's necessary to do it (because it's a rule or law)

The students had no difficulty with these ideas and applied them appropriately, both orally and in the initial exercises. But then we came across the following sentences:

  1. Passengers must / should remain in their seats while the plane is landing.

  2. Students must / may be silent during the written exam.

Both sentences present rules, not situations where the 'speaker says so', so why is the correct modal 'must' and not 'have to'?

I can only assume that the rules presented are incomplete (it happens the same when teaching Present Continuous, which is first taught without mentioning its future arrangement function). But I cannot find a single school book where any other rule, or even exceptions, are mentioned.

I have also searched EL&U and I did come across two related questions:

  1. "I have to" vs. "I must"

It's mentioned that 'have to' usually implies an obligation imposed by somebody other than the speaker and that 'must' is usually a personal obligation. This follows the line of the rule in my book and, again, fails to explain the sentences above.

  1. What's the difference between "I must help her" and " I have to help her"

It's mentioned that, although 'must' is supposedly for personal obligations it can be used for external obligations, and there's even the example "You must show your ID card" which is in line with the two examples from my book.

So I can't help but wonder: why is 'must' preferred in the two sentences above when the rules would have you use 'have to'? And also, when is 'must' preferred over 'have to' to express external obligation?

I'm particularly worried about this because the students became confused and I have no explanations for them.

Best Answer

Depending on the context, the verb must can be used performatively. The verb have (to) cannot very easily with third person Subjects. What I mean by performatively, is that the actual uttering of the sentence is not a description of the necessity, but a directive, whereby the speaker is exerting their authority over the Subject just by uttering the sentence. The sentence causes the obligation, it doesn't merely describe it. If a speaker says:

  • Passengers have to fasten their seat-belts.

This is likely to be taken as a description of the fact that passengers must fasten their seat-belts.

However, if a speaker says (i.e. in this case writes):

  • Passengers must fasten their seat-belts.

This is likely to be taken as a directive whereby the reason that they have to fasten their seat-belts is because I'm telling them so in this utterance.

I disagree with the idea that have to is because of a third party saying so. The issue is that with must the speaker is yielding to the authority of some other obligator, or is obligating something themselves. Have to may represent some type of decree but the presentation is not one of obligation, but just necessity.

It can help to bring out this difference if you consider things that are necessary, but involve no morality, authority or obligation. For example:

  • You'll have to use this key to get into the house.
  • You must use this key to get into the house.

The first sentence seems to just be saying that this key is necessary for the purposes of entering the house, but there's no coercion, authority, morality or obligation involved. In the second sentence, the speaker seems to be saying something about some obligation to do things this way.

Understanding how modal verbs are used is very complex. I am not saying that any of these things are core meanings of these verbs. But they describe the implications that using these verbs often has.

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