Needn’tand Don’t need to / Don’t have to

Compare the uses of needn’t and don’t need to / don’t have to:

To say that it is unnecessary to do something we can use either needn’t or don’t have to.	You needn’t (or don’t have to) whisper. Nobody can hear us.
To give permission not to do something we can use eitherneedn’t or don’t need to:	You needn’t cut the grass. I’ll do it later. You don’t need to cut the grass. I’ll do it later.
To talk about a general necessity, we preferdon’t need to:	Youdon’t need to be over 18 to get into a disco. You needn’t to be over 18 to get into a disco.

Exercise 137

Choose the more likely answer. If they are equally likely, name them both.

1. You needn’t / don’t need to / don’t have to close the door. I’m just going

out.

2. In most developed countries, people needn’t / don’t need to / don’t have

toboil water before they drink it.

3. Anna has agreed to organize the party, so she said that the rest of us

needn’t / don’t need to / don’t have todo anything.

4. I’ve brought the car, so you needn’t / don’t need to / don’t have tocarry

your bags to the station.

5. You needn’t / don’t need to / don’t have to have any qualifications to be

a politician.

6. Now that it has been eradicated, doctors needn’t / don’t need to/don’t

have to vaccinate against smallpox.

7. You needn’t / don’t need to /don’t have togo to the supermarket. I went

shopping earlier.

8. In many countries you needn’t / don’t need to / don’t have topay to use

public libraries.

9. You needn’t / don’t need to / don’t have toworry about it any more. I’ll

take care of that.

10. There’s enough bread. You needn’t / don’t need to / don’t have tobuy

any.

Needn’t – Didn’t need to – Needn’t have

Don’t have to / don’t need to / needn’t + present infinitive (It is not necessary in the present or future.) You don’t have to / don’t need to / needn’t worry about it any more. I’ll take care of that. (It is not necessary to worry ...)

Didn’t have to / didn’t need to (It was not necessary in the past and we may not know if the action happened or not.) She didn’t have to / didn’t need to buy a dress for the party. (It wasn’t necessary for her to buy a dress, and we don’t know if she bought one.)

Needn’t + bare perfect infinitive (We know that something happened in the past although it was not necessary.) You needn’t have said that. She was very upset by your remarks. (You said it, although it was not necessary.)

Exercise 138

Fill in: needn’t haveordidn’t need to / didn’t have to,don’t needto /don’thave to / needn’tand the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

“Have you seen Modern Families yet?” Paul asked Mary as he was checking through the cinema listings. “I saw it last night,” she replied. “I

1 needn’t have gone_ (go) though – I already knew what it would be like.” “Did you like it?” “Not really. The director2 __________(spend) so much money presenting such a weak story. It’s a good thing I3 __________(pay) to get in.” “How did you manage that?” asked Paul. “I went with Tom,” she answered. “Critics4 __________(pay) to see films you know.” “How was the acting?” “Well, the director5 __________(hire) such good actors for a film like that,” said Mary. “I mean you6 __________(have) much talent to sit around talking about nothing for hours.” “Did Tom review it?” “He

7 __________(write) about it. Somebody else had already done it for his paper. We just went out of curiosity, but really we8 __________(go).”

Exercise 139

Insert didn’t needtoorneedn’t haveaccording to the sense. Remember that both presupposeabsence of necessity to do something, butneedn’t haveis used to show that you did it.

1. You _____ (to bring) the book. Didn’t you know I had it?

2. I _____ (to bring) the book because we always got it from the library.

3. We _____(to explain) it to him. He understood what had happened at once.

4. You _____ (to explain) it to me, but since you did I shall try to come him

down.

5. I _____ (to hurry), since I had plenty of time before the departure.

6. You _____ (to hurry). Now you will have to sit long waiting for the train to

come.

7. You _____ (to write) to Mary and _____ (to summon) her to Moscow.

Someone had already broken the news to her.

8. You _____ (to write) to Mary and _____ (to summon) her to Moscow. Now

we shall have to refund her expenses.

9. She _____ (to clean) the room and had less work that morning.

10. We _____ (to be) so rude to him. I think we hurt him.

11. As it was fine when I woke up I _____ (to take) my umbrella to work.