Chapter VI : Have / Get Something Done and Causative Have
A. Have / Get Something Done
If
you 'have something done', you get somebody else to do something for you.
Examples :
· I'm going to have my hair cut.
· She's having her house redecorated.
· I'm having a copy of the report sent
to you
In
informal English, we can replace 'have' by 'get'.
Examples :
· We're getting a new telephone system
installed.
· They will be getting the system
repaired as quickly as they can.
· I got the bill sent direct to the
company.
We
can also use 'have/got something done' in situations where something bad has
happened to people or their possessions. This is not something they wanted to
happen.
Examples :
· John had all his gold stolen from his
bedroom.
· They had their car damaged by a falling tree.
· he got his leg broken when playing soccer.
B. Causative Have
We
use a causative verb when we want to talk about something that someone else did
for us or for another person. It means that the subject caused the action to
happen, but didn't do it themselves. Maybe they paid, or asked, or persuaded
the other person to do it. For example, we can say:
·
I
cleaned my house. (This means I cleaned it myself).
If I paid someone to clean it, of
course I can say:
·
A
cleaner cleaned my house.
But, another way is to use a
causative construction. So I can also say:
·
I
had my house cleaned.
In a sense, using a causative verb is
similar to using a passive. The important thing is that the house is now clean.
We don't focus on who did the cleaning.
Have + object + past participle (have something done)
We usually use 'have something done' when we are talking about paying someone to do something for us. It's often used for services. The form is 'subject + have + object + past participle'.
·
I
had my car washed.
·
John
will have his house painted.
Get + object + past participle (get
something done)
We can also use 'subject + get + object + past participle'. This has the same meaning as 'have', but is less formal.
We can also use 'subject + get + object + past participle'. This has the same meaning as 'have', but is less formal.
·
The
students get their essays checked.
·
I'll
get my hair cut next week.
·
He
got his washing machine fixed.
Have someone do something (have + person + infinitive)
We can also use the construction 'subject + have + person + infinitive'. This has a very similar meaning to 'have something done', which we've already talked about, but this time we say who did the thing - we talk about the person who we asked to do the thing for us.
·
I
had the electrician look at my broken light.
·
The
doctor will have the nurse call the patients.
·
The
teacher had the students write the answers on the whiteboard.
Get someone to do something (get +
person + to + infinitive)
Finally, we can also use the construction 'get + someone + to + infinitive'. Again, this means that you cause the other person to do the action, maybe by paying them to do it, or by asking them to do it, or by persuading them to do it.
Finally, we can also use the construction 'get + someone + to + infinitive'. Again, this means that you cause the other person to do the action, maybe by paying them to do it, or by asking them to do it, or by persuading them to do it.
·
She
gets her son to do his homework by promising him ice cream when he's finished.
·
I
got the cleaner to clean under the cupboards.
Sometimes, this construction has the
feeling that we needed to convince someone to do something, while the other
constructions on this page are neutral.
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