Causatives

Why do people go to see a

dentist?

To repair or check their teeth?

No.
People go to a dentist
tohaveorgettheir teeth
checked or repaired by a
dentist.

When we do not perform an action

ourselves but instead cause the
action to be performed by another
person, we describe the fact with a
'causative' construction.

The pattern:
have

+ Direct Obj. + V3
or

get

+ Direct Obj. + V3

Examples:

I'm having my house painted.

(I paid another person to paint my
house.)

I had my car repaired after the accident.

(I paid another person to repair my car.)

Examples:

I got my hair cut yesterday.

(I paid the hairdresser to cut my hair.)

I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow.

(I will pay the hairdresser to cut my hair.)

Identifying the agent of an

action
Similar to the Passive voice, it is not
necessary to identify the agent of an action

Note:
The agent is the person or thing that performs the action

We can identify the agent

in two ways:
1. Passive:
'have' + direct object + V3 + 'by' + agent (N)

I had my hair cut by Pauline.

I'm having my house built by Barrett Homes.

Note: the agent is usually a noun

2. Active
'have' + agent + verb infinitive + object

Note:
1. Agent and Object as a direct object noun
or pronoun

In spoken English, the causative verb get'

often replaces have,
and in this case, 'to' is added to the

infinitive.

Examples:
The teacher had his students write an
essay.
The teacher got his students to write an
essay.

I had him do it.

I got him to do it.

Build causatives
sentences:
Example:
He went to the hairdressers (His father...)
His fatherhad him go to the hairdresser's.
1.
2.
3.

He stayed in bed. (The nurse...)

He will apologize to you (I...)
He admitted that he was wrong. (We...)

Thank you