Representing being and having
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Students' problems | page 4 of 7 |
Underuse of have to describe things
One effect of the widely-held misconception that have cannot be used unless the subject is a person (or persons) is that students overuse the there + be structure. Consider the following paragraph from a student's essay:
There are many fascinating historical sites in India which are worth visiting. For example, there are the Mogul Gardens which were built in the eighteenth century. Besides, there are also many famous museums in India, such as the Maharajah Palace, which is one of the most famous museums in the world. (TeleNex Students)
To improve the student's writing, we can combine the first two sentences, retaining the first instance of there are but deleting the second instance. In the third sentence we can make India the subject of has:
There are many fascinating historical sites in India which are worth visiting; for example, the Mogul Gardens which were built in the eighteenth century. India also has many famous museums, such as the Maharajah Palace, which is one of the most famous museums in the world
.
For further information about this misconception concerning have, see 
Representing
being and having: Misconceptions.
For further information about using have to describe things, see 
Representing being and having: Using have and other possession
verbs (p 4).
Introduction
Underuse of have to describe things
