Grammatical construction of “you don’t necessarily have to” in this sentence

And, I should add, that I would remember, at least every now and then, to own up to my own specific tastes and noteworthy eccentricities and allow that just because I think something is good and proper and nifty you don’t necessarily have to.

Could anyone help me understand the grammatical construction of “you don’t necessarily have to” in this sentence?


If you put a comma after nifty, it creates a pause that might help with comprehension:

"... just because I think something is good and proper and nifty, you don't necessarily have to [think that as well]"

Grammatically, you have:

  • you do not (second person negative of "do")
  • necessarily (adverb)
  • have to (+ omitted verb/verb phrase) (modal verb of obligation)

In an separate example sentence, you could have:

He is a gifted thinker and an articulate author; you do not necessarily have to know the complete genealogy of Western philosophy to appreciate his writings.


"just because I think something is good and proper and nifty you don’t necessarily have to.” =

"just because I think something is good and proper and nifty, it is not necessary for you to [think something is good and proper and nifty]."