Causative in english

Causative in english

Easier than it seems

What are causative verbs used for?

• Causative verbs are used to indicate why or how something occurs.

• In this lesson we will learn about the causative verbs: Have, Get and Make

Have

Structure 1: Subject + have (any tense) + object (usually person) + base form of verb 

Example: 

John had Alex clean the bedroom.

He always has me do his work.  

Mary will have Alex prepare her homework.

Have

Subject + have (any tense) + object (usually thing) + past participle form of verb 

Example:

John had his car washed.

He always has his work done.  

Mary will have her homework prepared.

Open Ended

Change these examples into the causative structure:

I washed my car. (have)

I typed the documents. (have)

I repaired my fridge. (have)

Get

Subject + get (any tense) + object (usually person) + infinitive.

Example:

John got Alex to clean the bedroom.

He always gets me to do his work.  

Mary will get Alex to prepare her homework.

Get

Subject + have (any tense) + object (usually thing) + past participle form of verb 

Example:

John got his car washed.

He always gets his work done.  

Mary will get her homework prepared.

Open Ended

Change these examples into the causative structure

I cut my hair. (get)

I painted my bedroom. (get)

I repaired the roof. (get)

Make

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

 Subject + make (any tense) + object (always person) + base form of verb.

Example:

He always makes me do his work.  

Mary will make me prepare her homework. 

 I made him wash my car.

He makes me laugh whenever I am down.

Multiple Choice

Our biology teacher is so mean – she ............... us ……………… a test at the beginning of every class we have with her.

• made // write

• makes // to write

• makes // write

• made // to write

Change the sentences to use the structures ‘have someone do something’ or ‘get someone to do something’. Each one starts with ‘I’. 

1. The cleaner cleaned the house. (have) ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. The taxi driver collected us. (have) ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. John arrived on time. (get) ___________________________________________________________________________ 4. The mechanic fixed the brakes. (have) ___________________________________________________________________________ 5. The teacher explained the lesson. (have)