Causative Verbs

Causative verbs are the main verbs that cause people or machines to do things or cause things to change.

For instances:

• He makes me bring the newspaper.

• She made the machine work.

• He had the roof repaired.

• She had Suman repair the roof.

• He made Suman repair the roof.

• She got the roof repaired.

• He got Suman to repair the roof.

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Note: "The itself, but causes someone or something else to do it instead" (Pinker 1989).

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#CV1: Have (Request/delegate/assign/task with)

Active: Have as someone does/did/will do something for you.

For examples:

• He always has me do his work.

• John had Alex clean the bedroom.

• Mary will have Suman prepare her homework.

Subject+have (any tense)+agent (usually person)+base form verb (V1)+..........

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Passive: Have as something is/was/will be done by someone for you.

For examples:

• He always has the cupboard fixed. 

• The manager had the report written (by)

• Mary will have the homework prepared.

Subject+have (any tense)+object (usually thing)+past participle+....................

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#CV2: Get (ask/convince/persuasion)

Active: ‘Get’ with to-infinitive/V1 as someone does/did/will do something for you.

For examples:

• He always gets Hari to do his work.

• John got Suman to clean the bedroom.

• Mary will get Dilip to prepare her homework.

Subject+have (any tense)+agent (usually person)+ to+V1+............................

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Passive: ‘Get’ without to’ as something is/was/will be done by someone for you.

For examples:

• He always gets his work done.

• John got his car washed.

• Mary will get her homework prepared.

Subject+have (any tense)+ object (usually thing)+past participle+....................

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Foley & Hall (2008) have mentioned that GET is usually more informal than HAVE (p. 106). They have illustrated that we can also use causatives (Have & Get) in imperatives (p.106). For examples:

•  Have/Get that mess cleaned up at once!

Alexander (1998, p. 187) has presented that we sometimes use GET in place of HAVE in the causative to say something is urgent. For examples:

•  Have that car repaired! (causative)

•  GET that car repaired! (more urgent causative)

Eastwood (2011) states that we use have with the meaning 'experience something', often something unpleasant (p.138).

For examples:

•  We had all our money stolen.

•  The car had its mirror pulled off.

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#CV3: Make (Force, power & authority)

Active: This means that you force someone/something to do something. 

For examples:

• Robert made me beat that little child.

• He always makes me do his work.

• Mary will make me prepare her homework.

• I made the machine work.*

• He makes me laugh whenever I am down.

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Subject+make (any tense)+agent (mostly person)+base form of verb (V1)+….

Note: ‘Make’ is thus stronger than ‘have/get’. It constitutes only one structure as it does not take anything ‘passive’ as its object. 

Other Causative Verbs in English

#LET

• Hari lets her drive his car.

• Dolma let me escape from the prison last week. 

• The teacher will let the students discuss among themselves.

#HELP                                              

• It helps you move on.

• Robert helped me escape the prison. 

• He will help me prepare my presentations.    

Note: This means that you help ( = assist) someone (to) do something. ’. These both structures are acceptable in general. This structure is mostly used without ‘to

Now, we have finally two structures:

Active structure:

• Subject+causative verbs (Have/make/get/let/help)+agent+bare infinitive-or-to infinitive+…

Passive structure:

• Subject+causative verbs (Have/get)+object+past participle (V3)+.....

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EXERCISE

1. The people………the leaders keep their word. (has/ get/ make)

2. The teacher gets the students…………homework daily. (do/ to do/ done)

3. We have the mechanics………..our vehicles.( mend/ to mend/ mended)

4. People get government………..them with jobs.( provide/ to provide/ provided)

5. I had my car……………….( service/ serviced/ to service)

6. People have engineers……….their houses( design/ to design/ designed)

7. I have my coat………….(wash/ to wash/ washed)

8. They got their photos………….( to take/ take/ taken)

9. Please have your room………(to clean/ clean/ cleaned)

10. They got their books……….( print/ to print/ printed)

11. I have my chest………..(x-ray/ to x-ray/ x-rayed)

12. Ram's grandfather………..a tailor to stitch his trousers. ( made/ got / had)

13. The teacher asked the students to get their hair.( trim/ trimmed/ to trim)

14. She got the letter……(to type/ typed/ type)

15. My father got me………in the garden. (dig/ to dig/ dug)