The Causative

The Causative

By Andrea López

Start

Parts of a sentence

• She reads books.
• They eat pizza.
• He plays the guitar.
• She carefully painted a beautiful landscape.
• They enthusiastically explored the ancient ruins.
• He quietly wrote a heartfelt letter to his friend.

The dog affectionately greeted its owner at the door.

Warm up exercise

What is happening in each picture? Imagine that in each picture someone else is doing the action... How would you say it?

I got my cat bathed.

He is having his nails cut.

He has breakfast prepared.

My cat had a bath.

He is cutting his nails.

He prepares breakfast.

THE CAUSATIVE

We use causative structures when we want to talk about something that another person does for us. These are sentences in which the subject makes another person take charge of doing something, either because he/she pays asks, convinces or forces the other person. The most common structure is:

• have/get + object + past participle

+ info

Causative Verbs

We use these verbs to say that someone or something causes something to happen

HELP

MAKE

HAVE

LET

GET

Examples

Original ➡️ Causative

• She has dinner cooked every evening.
• He had the car fixed yesterday.
• I got my hair cut.
• We will have the house cleaned tomorrow.
• I got my bedroom painted.

• She cooks dinner every evening.
• He fixed the car yesterday.
• I cut my hair.
• We will clean the house tomorrow.
• I painted my bedroom.

Activity

Thank you for your time and attention!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

The structure is: help + object + (to) infinitive We can make sentences without to and the meaning of the sentence doesn't change. Also, it is more common to leave out to.

• Music helps me (to) focus while doing homework.
• My mom would help me (to) do homework when I was a child.
• The taxi driver helped me (to) get to my destination.

When we let someone do something it means that we give them permission. The structure is: let + object + infinitive

• My parents let me come home whenever I wanted.
• I let the bush grow so big that it now blocks out the light in my window.
• Please don't let the dog jump on the sofa.
• The teacher won't let use our phones during class.

When we get someone do something for us it means that we persuade that person to do it. The strucutre is:

get + person + (to) infinitive

• I got my son to cook dinner beacause I was too tired.
• She got Jane to do a double shift by telling her she would bring her lunch.
• We got Ben to go to the movies with us.
• I got my sister to come to the doctor with me.

Compare...

▪ John painted his house last summer. Who paint the house? John. ▪ John had his house painted last summer. Who paint the house? Someone other than john.

To make someone do something means that we forced or obliged someone to do something they didn't want to. The structure is: make + object + infinitive

• I make my children do their homework before dinner.
• The teacher made me rewrite my essay.
• She made me change my tie for a bow to look better.

We generally use this construction when someone performs a service for us or on us.

• I have my eyes checked every three years.
• For the wedding, she'll have her hair done.
• He's had his car repaired.

Although, we can replace have with get to sound more casual, and it is also the most used.

• I got the dinner made for us.
• She gets her house cleaned everyday.
• They've gotten their windows replaced.

But there's another way how we can use have. In this case, we say who perform the action. The structure is: have + person + infinitive

• I'll have my secretary call you.
• I had my children clean their rooms.