For all English language learners, one of the most mysterious constructions has always been the Causative form. In this article we will figure out what kind of construction this is, get acquainted with its forms, consider verbs that are causative and, of course, we will analyze all this with examples.
Features of the causative construction
First of all, it is necessary to determine what a causative form is in English. Let's consider these examples:
IwashmycareverySaturday – I wash my car every Saturday.
I have my car washed every Saturday – My carwasheverySaturday.
As we can see, in both sentences we are talking about washing a car, but in the first case the performer performs the action himself, and in the second example someone does it instead of him.
This is the main essence of the causative - it describes a situation when we find 3 people who will do some work for us. In this kind of sentence, the subject (in our example, “I”) is not the direct performer, he acts as an initiator, is the reason that the action will be performed. Hence the name of the construction - the causative form (translated from cause - reason, to cause - to encourage, to achieve).
Causative forms
In English, a distinction is made between active and passive causative phrases.
Active
Its peculiarity is that the performer of the action, as a rule, will be designated - the proposal will indicate who specifically performs the work
I have my legal representative sign all the agreements. - Allagreementssignsmylegal. representative.
As we can see from the example, it is formed according to the scheme :
Subject– causativeverb– performer– infinitive
Subject + have/get/make/let/help + Person + Infinitive
In this case, the role of the performer is the person who will perform the action.
The active construction uses the causative verbs have, get, make, let, help.
- 1.Have used when we shift the responsibility for performing an action to someone else, redirect the task (in most cases we are talking about providing us with some services, usually on a paid, profitable basis)
- 2. Get- when we encourage someone to take action, trying to convince, motivate or in some way inspire them to carry it out. Sometimes it can also mean that we tricked someone into doing what we wanted.
How can we get all the students to attend the classes?
My daughter hates working in the garden; I can never get her to water the plants!
- 3. Let's expresses permission to perform a task
I always let my kids watch some cartoons before going to bed - I always allow my children to watch some cartoons before going to bed
- 4.Make used for orders and instructions, meaning “to force”
She made me act this way - She made me do this.
- 5.Help- help someone do something
Jane helped me to clean the room - Jane helped me clean the room.
As for tense forms, the active causative construction can be used in all tenses, subject to the standard rules of grammar - all that is required of us is to put the verb in the correct form
- We will get our college to contact you – Wewe'll convinceourcolleaguecontactWithYou ()
- When they arrived I had had my sister clean the flat – WhenTheycame, mysisteralreadyremovedVapartment ()
- I am making him do his homework – II forcehisexecutehomemadeexercise ()
It is not customary to use this construction with the verb have in the Continuous form; in these cases, preference is given to passive forms.
Passive causative
In sentences with Passive Causative form, i.e. in which there is a construction have something done, the emphasis is on the action itself, the performer is either clear from the context, or this information is not important at all. This construction is used with the verbs have and get and is quite widespread, occurring even more often than the active form.
She has flowers in her yard watered three times a week – FlowersVheryardwateredthreetimesVa week.
Here, like an active causative, the subject (in our example “She”) does not perform the action herself, but someone does it for her.
The following structures are built according to the following scheme:
Subject – causative verb – object – 3rd form of the verb
Subject -have/get-object –V3
Those. in general it will look like to have something done or get something done.
The passive causative phrase can be used in all types of tense forms, as shown in the table below
Difference between have and get
There are certain differences in the use of the causative verbs have and get.
- As we noted above, have is used when transferring responsibility, and get is used when we manage to motivate a person to do something.
- Another difference is that have often refers to a result, which may mean that an action has already been completed, while get places more emphasis on the process of persuasion.
Jane has had her boyfriend propose her. Jane’s boyfriend proposed to her.
Jane has got her boyfriend to propose her. – Jane managed to persuade her boyfriend to propose to her
- And of course, as you have already noticed, after have we use bare Infinitive (without the particle to), and after get comes full Infinitive
This is the main feature of causative constructions in the English language. Memorizing them is quite simple, and their use will make your speech more vibrant and vivid. In addition, they will help you get rid of the need to use complex sentences, which means you don’t have to think about coordinating tenses.
If you want your interlocutor to understand you correctly, you must know the features and some constructions of the English language. For example, the construction have something done.
We use it when we want to tell our interlocutor that we used the services of professionals to do something. For example, when we say:
“I cut my hair. He fixed the phone. She dyed her hair. They did the renovations."
By this, we mean that we did not do it ourselves, but someone else did it for us.
In this article I will tell you when and how to use this design correctly.
From the article you will learn:
Using the have something done construction in English
The construction have something done is passive. By using it, you show that you are not doing the action yourself, but that someone is doing something for you. Let's look at 2 situations.
Situation 1:
You took your own nail polish and painted them. You say: “I got my nails done.” You mean you made it yourself.
Situation 2:
You went to the salon where you had your nails painted. In this case, you say: “I got my nails done.” But you don't mean that you did it yourself, you just used the services of a professional.
As you can see, in the first situation we say that we did the manicure ourselves.
The 2nd one someone else made it for us. In such a situation, we use the construction have something done, showing that someone else did something for you.
Using this design, we focus on the result (new manicure), and not on who did it.
Attention: Confused about English rules? Find out how to easily understand English grammar.
This construction can be used in all tenses; we will analyze it using the example of the most commonly used simple tenses: Present, Past and Future Simple.
The have something done construction in the Present Simple
When we use this phrase in the Present Simple, we mean that someone regularly does something for us.
When using the phrase have something done, we:
1. We put the actor in first place - the one for whom the action was performed (I, he, she, they, etc.)
2. We put the verb have in second place (if he, she, then has is in 1st place)
- If the verb is correct, then we add the ending -ed (clean - cleaned).
- If the verb is irregular, then we use the 3rd form of the verb (cut - cut).
So, the scheme of such a proposal will be as follows:
Actor + have/has + subject + action (regular verb ending -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | |||
| You | |||
| We | have | ||
| They | a phone | repaired | |
| She | |||
| He | has | ||
| It |
They have their car washed every week.
They wash their car every week (not themselves, but take it to a car wash).
He has his hair cut every month.
He cuts his hair every month (by himself, and goes to the hairdresser).
The have something done construction in the Past Simple
Using this construction in the past simple, we say that we used someone’s service in the past. When we use this phrase in the past tense, we change have/has to had. The rest of the scheme remains unchanged:
Actor + had + subject + action (regular verb ending -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | |||
| You | |||
| We | |||
| They | had | a phone | repaired |
| She | |||
| He | |||
| It |
She had the walls painted.
She painted the walls (not herself, but hired workers).
We had the windows cleaned.
They washed the windows (not themselves, but hired workers).
The have something done construction in the Future Simple
Using this construction in the Future Simple, you are saying that you are going to do something using the services of professionals. To do this, you need to put will in front of have.
The scheme for forming such a sentence will be:
Actor + will + have + subject + action (regular verb ending -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | ||||
| You | ||||
| We | ||||
| They | will | have | a phone | repaired |
| She | ||||
| He | ||||
| It |
I will have my nails done.
I'll get a manicure (not myself, but in a beauty salon).
He will have his watch repaired.
He will repair his watch (on himself, but took it to a master).
Negative sentences with the construction have something done
To say that you do not/did/will do something you need to use an auxiliary verb with a negative particle not. For each tense we use a different auxiliary verb.
Present tense -PresentSimple
We use the auxiliary verb do (for he, she, it - does) with the negative particle not.
Abbreviations:
do + not = don’t
does + not = doesn’t
We put don’t/doesn’t before our design. The outline of such a proposal:
Actor + don’t/doesn’t + have + object + action (regular verb ending -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | ||||
| You | ||||
| We | don"t | |||
| They | have | a phone | repaired | |
| She | ||||
| He | doesn't | |||
| It |
They don"t have their car washed every week.
They don't wash their car every week.
She doesn't have her hair cut.
She doesn't cut her hair.
Past tense -PastSimple
We use the auxiliary verb did with the negative particle not.
Reduction: did + not = didn't
We put didn"t in front of our construction. At the same time, we no longer put have in the past tense.
Offer outline:
Actor + didn’t + have + subject + action (regular verb ending -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | ||||
| You | ||||
| We | ||||
| They | didn't | have | a phone | repaired |
| She | ||||
| He | ||||
| It |
He didn't have his car painted.
He didn't paint his car.
They didn't have their roof repaired.
They didn't fix their roof.
Future tense - Future Simple
To our auxiliary verb will we add the negative particle not.
Reduction: will + not = won't
We put won"t in front of our construction. The scheme of such a sentence will be:
Actor + won’t + have + subject + action (regular verb ending in -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | ||||
| You | ||||
| We | ||||
| They | won't | have | a phone | repaired |
| She | ||||
| He | ||||
| It |
They won't have the refrigerator repaired.
They won't fix the refrigerator.
She won't have her hair colored.
She won't dye her hair.
Interrogative sentences with the construction have something done in English
To ask a question, we put the auxiliary verb first in the sentence. Let's look at this for our three tenses.
Present tense -PresentSimple
We put the auxiliary verb do/does first. Offer outline:
Do/does + actor + have + subject + action (regular verb ending in -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | ||||
| you | ||||
| Do | we | |||
| they | have | a phone | repaired | |
| she | ||||
| Does | he | |||
| it |
Do do they have their house tided?
Do they clean their house?
Does she have her hair cut?
Does she cut her hair?
Past tense -PastSimple
We put the auxiliary verb did first. Offer outline:
Did + actor + have + subject + action (regular verb ending in -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | ||||
| you | ||||
| we | ||||
| Did | they | have | a phone | repaired |
| she | ||||
| he | ||||
| it |
Did do you have this dress made?
Did you make this dress?
Did she have her carpet cleaned?
Did she clean her carpet?
Future tense - FutureSimple
We put the auxiliary verb will first. Offer outline:
Will + actor + have + subject + action (regular verb ending -ed, irregular verb in 3rd form)
| I | ||||
| you | ||||
| we | ||||
| Will | they | have | a phone | repaired |
| she | ||||
| he | ||||
| it |
Will do you have your hair colored?
Will you dye your hair?
Will he have his phone repaired?
Will he fix his phone?
So, today you got acquainted with another construction of the English language. Now let's put the theory into practice.
Reinforcement task
Translate the following sentences into English:
1. I painted the walls.
2. She gets her nails done every week.
3. Have you cut your hair?
4. She fixed the sockets.
5. He won't wash the car.
6. Did she fix the car?
To understand the meaning of the expression have something done in English, and also to securely fix it in our memory, let's try to see its meaning in the following example. Let's imagine a situation: you need to attend some kind of special event. Accordingly, you need to look beautiful and elegant. You wouldn’t mind putting on a nice dress, but the trouble is that you don’t have one, and you don’t have enough money to buy a new one. What to do? You calculate the amount you can allocate for this item of clothing and go to the studio where they sew a dress to order for you. When you tell someone about something that made you look great at a party, you say, “I made myself a new dress.” How to correctly translate this sentence? The first thing that comes to mind is I made a new dress. How will your interlocutor understand you? And exactly as you said. “I sewed a new dress” - I bought the fabric, cut it out, sat down at the sewing machine and made it. But this is not so, the dress was sewn in a studio. How to indicate this difference? To indicate that something was done for you or to you, but not by you personally. It is for these purposes that the expression “have something done” in English is necessary. As we see, this expression includes three components: the verb have / has / had (depending on the person, number and time), an object or person (on which the action is performed), a verb in the Past Participle form (correct - in ed, incorrect - special forms). All words are in the exact order as presented in this expression and cannot be changed or rearranged. By using the expression have something done in English, you show that someone else has done something with either you or your things. Here are examples of how to use this expression correctly:
*Present Simple: Every Friday Joe has his car washed. Every Friday Joe washes his car.(but he doesn’t wash it himself, but takes it to the car wash)
*Present Continuous: I am having a swimming pool built now. - I'm building a swimming pool now.(a group of workers is doing this, not me on my own)
* going to: He is going to have his eyes tested. - He's going to have his eyes checked.(will go to the ophthalmology center, where everything will be checked by ophthalmologists)
*Past Simple: I had the new dress made. – I sewed a new dress.(sewn in the studio, not by me)
Jill had the roof repaired. – Jill repaired the roof yesterday. (She didn’t go in to repair it herself, but called workers who did everything)
Where did you have your hair cut? -Where did you get your hair cut?(someone was getting a haircut)
Did you have your newspaper delivered? – Did you receive the newspaper? (they delivered it to you, and you didn’t go to the post office and pick it up)
Where did you have your watch repaired? – Where did you get your watch repaired?(which workshop did you take them to)
Why didn’t you have your fur -coat cleaned ? - Why didn’t you clean your fur coat? (I didn’t take it to the dry cleaner)
*Present Perfect: I haven’t had the film developed yet. – I haven't developed the film yet. (in other words, he did not take it to the photo center for development)
*Past Continuous: They were having their new house decorated at that moment. – They were decorating their house at that moment.(a group of workers carried out the finishing, not the owners themselves)
*Future Simple: She will have her new book published. – She will release her new book.
*Future Continuous: I will be having my windows cleaned at that time. – At this time I will wash the windows. (not myself, hired washers)
*Present Perfect Continuous: I have been having my sight tested for an hour already. “I’ve been checking my vision for an hour now.” (not herself, the doctor evaluates him)
*Past Perfect: My mother had her fence painted by the end of the week. — By the end of the week, mom painted the fence.(she did not paint it herself, but hired workers)
*Past Perfect Continuous: They had been having the house tidied for an hour when I visited them. “They had been cleaning their house for an hour when I came to see them.”
* Modal verbs: We must have our washing machine repaired. - We need to fix the washing machine. (give it for repair)
*V-ing form: It’s worth having new sweater knitted. – It’s worth knitting a new sweater.(I won’t knit it myself, but I’ll ask a friend)
Another variant of the expression have something done in English is the get something done construction. In terms of meaning, these are the same thing, but the second one is more common in colloquial speech. For example: Your beard is too long. I think you should get it trimmed. -Your beard is very long, you need to trim it.
I need some copies. Do you know where I can get that made around here? – I need several copies. Do you know where I can make them nearby?
The sole has come off my shoe. I need to get it repaired. “The heel of my shoe came off.” I need my shoes repaired.
Well, and finally, another meaning of the expression have something done is manifested in the following situation: We arrived at the airport to fly to another country and discovered that our bag with money had been stolen. It is in this case that the expression we are considering will be used. Of course, we did not agree to have something stolen from us, nor did we ask anyone to do it. With this expression we simply show that something happened to someone (usually something unpleasant).
Jack had his hand broken in a fight. – Jack broke his arm in the fight.(not myself, of course)
We had all our money stolen. - All our money was stolen.
She had her hat blown off in the wind. - Her hat was blown away by the wind.
The expression have something done is not difficult at all, either to remember or to use. But at the same time, it is very often used, so you need to know it. Take note of the cases of its use and confidently use it in speech.
Relative clauses - which, who, whose, where, when
1.Name the actor ..plays Mr. Bean
2.Name the US city ..Hollywood can be found
3.Name the film…tells the story of a strong character.
4.Name the character…nose grows when he tells lies.
5.Name the year..the first studio was built in Hollywood
6.Name the year…Titanic was released
7. Name the superhero…lives in Gotham City
8.Name the place..the Lion King is set.
CAUSITIVE FORM
TO HAVE SOMETHING DONE
1. Rewrite the following passages in the active or passive,
accordingly.
A Rosemary Hills train station was built by Sean Carlton and his wife Sharon in 1894. For the construction of the waiting room, the Carltons had imported red brick from England. The President himself opened the station in 1896. That year, a steam locomotive visited Rosemary Hills for the first time. It was pumping clouds of white smoke and whistling loudly enough to be heard by all the townspeople.
B The news reporter announced that the police are looking for a man who broke into the National Bank. The thief cut the wires of the alarm and then broke into the bank"s city center branch some time late last night. The thief stole £500,000 from the bank. The police are searching the city center as they believe the thief is still in the area.
2. Rewrite these sentences using have + object + past participle (have something done) and changing some words if necessary.
Example: Someone delivers the newspapers. (We)
We have the newspapers delivered.
Someone cleaned the carpets every year. (I)
I had the carpets cleaned every year.
Their house needs painting. (They're going to)
They"re going to have their house painted.
1. We ask someone to check the accounts every month. (We)
2. Someone sends the money to my bank account in London. (I)
3. My stereo isn't working properly. It needs cleaning. (I'm going to)
4. My camera"s being repaired at the moment. (I"m)
5. He spilled coffee on my jacket so he took it away for cleaning. (He spilt coffee on my jacket so he)
6. I think it"s time to service the car. (It"s time to)
7. I don't like the office curtains. It's time to change them. (I think I"ll)
8. There's something wrong with the typewriter. It needs repairing. (I think I"ll)
9. The computer"s no good: we"re changing it. (We)
10. I send the films to England: they are processed there. (I)
3. Rewrite the sentences using have something done.
Example: The money was deposited in his bank account by the company.
He had the money deposited in his bank account.
1. Sarah's new refrigerator will be delivered tomorrow.
2. Tim's car was serviced last week.
3. Mrs Scott's cat was examined by the vet yesterday.
4. Paul's house will be painted next weekend.
5. Mr Brown's book has just been published.
6. Becky's hair is done every week.
7. Edward's dinner was cooked by his mother yesterday.
9. My eyes are tested by the optician.
10. Somebody stole my car last weekend.
4. Rewrite the sentences using have something done.
Example: My windows are cleaned twice a month.
I have my windows cleaned twice a month.
1. The star's latest film has just been released.
2. Their swimming pool will be drained.
3. The carpets must be laid in our flat by Monday.
4. The brakes on my bicycle have been oiled.
5. Our desks are being painted at the moment.
6. Her bookcase was delivered last week.
7. A new computer has been ordered for me.
8. Annie's sculptures are going to be exhibited tomorrow.
9. A skateboard was being made for Tim.
10. He told the student to clean the board.
A few lessons ago you became acquainted with such a grammatical phenomenon in English as Passive Voice. As you remember, Passive Voce is used in cases where the performer of the action is unknown. In this case, the place of the subject in the sentence is taken by the object with which some action was performed.
Rules for using have something done
Today's lesson will be devoted to a special case of the passive voice, namely the construction “have something done”. What is private about it?
Compare:
My house wasrepaired. – My house has been renovated.
I had my house repaired. - My house was repaired.
Both sentences express a similar idea, but why then were different constructions used, you ask? It's simple. The second sentence carries the meaning that the house was not repaired by the person himself, but by specialists. In Russian there is no similar phenomenon; we would simply say “I renovated the house,” even if the repair was done by a team of hired workers.
Havesomethingdone, as a rule, is used when we talk about repairs, a haircut, going to the dentist or doctor. Instead of something The object with which the action is performed is called: for example, house.
This construction is combined with the passive voice by meaning (the performer is still not specified) and the presence of a verb in form III, which carries a “passive” meaning. In this case, the verb have as part of the phrase changes tenses. For example:
I have just had my hair cut. - I just got my hair cut. (Present Perfect)
He is having his car fixed. - His car is being repaired. (Present Continuous)
Negation and questioning are constructed using the already known auxiliary verbs “do/does” for the present and “did” for the past:
Do you have your windows cleaned every month?
She didn't have her room decorated yesterday.
So the expression havesomethingdone necessary when the action is performed not by you yourself, but by someone you hired. Also design havesomethingdone also used to describe negative experiences or unpleasant events: He had his purse stolen.
In informal conversations verb have can be replaced with a verb get:I' ll get my laptop fixed in a couple of days.
Lesson assignments
Task 1. Open the brackets using the verb have in the correct form.
- Nick (have) his phone fixed two days ago.
- She (have) just the report written.
- Susan (have) regularly her blood pressure taken.
- They (have) their flat redecorated next month.
- My granny (have) her eyes tested last week.
- The woman (have) already the bill brought.
- I (have) my car washed every month.
- John (have) the surgery done two weeks ago.
Task 2. Change using the have something done construction.
- Somebody robbed his house last week.
- Did she make a cake for you?
- The walls in your room will be painted.
- Mum has washed all my clothes.
- Nancy walks my dog every Sunday.
- Your office is being cleaned at the moment.
- The man is repairing Mary’s watch.
- Did she call the plumber to fix the shower?