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[puzzle]

Dear teachers,
There is a senence like this:
At no age need one have to beg for a living.
Could you tell me whether "need" and "have to" can be used together?

Thank you very much!

[2006]

[quote="puzzle"]Dear teachers,

There is this sentence.

'At no age need one beg for a living.'
Could you tell me whether "need" and "have to" can be used together?
You only need "need".

[IanT]

I think the writer probably wanted to say

"At no age should one have to beg for a living."

It gets a bit strange, because with a negative adverbial phrase like "at no age" at the beginning of the sentence, the verb has to be inverted like a question, so it's harder to keep track of what one is writing.

In general "don't need to" means it is unnecessary and "don't have to" can mean "it is unnecessary" or "it is not obligatory". The meanings are so close that I can't think of an example where you would use both together.

Hope helps,
Ian
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