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Unit 5. Form and Use of the Causative

Main Idea

When we want to do something, but cannot or do not want to do it ourselves, we ask someone else to do it for us. The person who does it may be less important to us than what is done, so we use the causative passive - we use have or get with the past participle of the verb:

E.g. - We're having a pool built in the garden.

Form

We use the Causative with different tenses and with Modals. Look at the examples:

	HAVE	SOMETHING	DONE
You should	have	your car	serviced	regularly.
Mark	has	his suits	cleaned	at Superclean.
We	had	the television	repaired	only last year.
You've	had	your hair	cut.
Our neighbours are	having	a new garage	built.
Is Melanie	having	a new cooker	installed?

Note that we can use the perfect of the Continious (have had, are having).

In negatives and questions in simple tenses, we use a form of do.

E.g. - Mark doesn't have his suits cleaned at Fastclean.

- We didn't have new windows put in because it was too expensive.

- Do you have your car serviced regularly?

- Where did you have your hair cut?

Exercise 1. Look at the pictures and say what people are doing or what they did. Use these phrases: her photo, his windows, his car, her eyes, his hair Use these verbs: clean, cut, repair, take, test.

E.g. At the moment Trevor is having his hair cut.

Last week Mike_______________________________
At the moment Melissa_________________________
Yesterday David_______________________________
At the moment Rachel__________________________

Exercise 2. Complete these sentences with the correct forms of the verbs in brackets.

E.g. They've just had their living room

__ decorated __ (decorate).

Your car engine sounds dreadful. You ought to have it ____________ (look at).
Have you had your eyes___________recently? (test)
He's going to have his hair____________at the weekend. (cut)
Can I have this letter______________, please? (photocopy)
This letter is so important, I'm going to have it____________ by a lawyer.(write)

Exercise 3. Rewrite the following sentences using have + v-ed if it is formal (F), and get + v-ed if it is informal (I). (Make sure you keep the same tense, and omit the words in italics.)

E.g. Tomorrow the dentist is going to fill my tooth. (F) Tomorrow I'm going to have my tooth filled.

The shoe shop mended my football boots for me last week. (I)
I must ask someone to fix my bike. (I)
The optician was testing her eyes because she used the computer so much. (F)
I forgot to ask the window-cleaner to clean the windows at the weekend. (I)
I should ask the gardener to cut the grass before my mother-in-law arrives. (I)
My lawyer is altering my will for me in the near future. (F)
Did somebody repair your roof? (F)
An engineer is checking Simon's central heating today. (I)
Has anyone ever read your palm? (F)
I want somebody to decorate my room. (D
He told the police to arrest his chief accountant for fraud. (F)

Exercise 4. Use the words in brackets to complete the sentences. Use the structure 'have something done'.

E.g. We ___are having the house painted___ (the house /paint) at the moment.

I lost my key. I'll have to________________ (another key / make).
When was the last time you________________ (your hair / cut)?
You look different_________________ (you / your hair / cut)?
____________________ (you / a newspaper / deliver) to your house or do you go to the shop to buy one?
A: What are those workmen doing in your garden?
1. B: Oh, we________________ (a swimming pool / build).
A: Can I see the photographs you took when you were on holiday?
1. B: I'm afraid I________________ (not / the film / develop) yet.
This coat is dirty. I must________________ (it / clean).
If you want to wear earrings, why don't you_______________ (your
1. ears / pierce)?

We use the active to describe jobs we do ourselves or when we know who's doing a job.

E.g. - I'm servicing the car. Jack is servicing the car.

We use the passive to say that a job is being done for us, but we don't know or don't want to say who is doing it.

E.g. - The car is being serviced. (We're focusing on the car).

We use the causative to stress the fact that we are 'causing' someone to do a job for us.

E.g. - I'm having the car serviced. I have had my car serviced. I'm going to have my hair cut. (Not 'I'm going to cut my hair' which means 'I'm going to cut it myself').

We often use the causative with verbs that have to do with services: build, clean, decorate, develop (a film), mend, photocopy, press, print, repair, service.

Exercise 5. Supply the correct forms of the verbs in brackets.

E.g. What are you doing? - I __'m cleaning___ the car. (clean)

Where's your car? - It _______________ at the moment. I'll collect it in an hour. (clean)
I never find time to clean the car myself, so I ________________ .(clean)
Did you decorate the room yourselves? - No, we _______________ . (decorate)
We can't use the living room. It _______________ at the moment. (decorate)
You ______________ . They look quite worn, (must/repair your shoes)
My shoes ______________ . It was an expensive job! (just repair)
The heel came off my shoe and I ______________ it myself. (repair)
'I'd like this film ______________' I said. 'Certainly,' the assistant said. (develop and print)
'Can I use the photocopier _______________ this document?' I asked. (photocopy)
Who _________________ the children's clothes, in this house? - Who do you think? I do! (mend)
What's happened to my report? -It ________________ at the moment. (photocopy)

Exercise 6. Today is Wednesday. Look at the notes Maria wrote yesterday and early today. Then write:

what she had done yesterday;
what she is having done today;
what she is going to have done tomorrow.

Tuesday

Best skirt cleaned.
Two trees planted.
Car serviced.

Wednesday (today)

Eyes tested.
A film developed.
Some furniture delivered.

Thursday

A tooth extracted.
Two teeth filled.
Hair done.

1. a) She had her best skirt cleaned yesterday.

b) She's having her eyes tested today.

c) She's going to have her tooth extracted tomorrow.

2. a) _____________________________________

b) _____________________________________

c) _____________________________________

3. a) _____________________________________

b) _____________________________________

c) _____________________________________

^
We sometimes use get in place of have in the Causative to say something is urgent.

E.g.: - Have that car repaired! (Causative) Get that car repaired! (more urgent Causative).

Exercise 7. Use get in place of have in these sentences.

E.g. I must have ____I must get____ this report photocopied and sent off

straightaway.

They're finally having _______________ their central heating repaired.
We'll be having _______________ the job done by a local builder.
Why don't you have _______________ that suit cleaned? It's filthy!
Have _______________ your hair cut!

Exercise 8. Read about each situation and write sentences with 'get something done'.

E.g. Melanie is paying the man who has repaired her bicycle. - Melanie has got her bicycle repaired.

David went to the hospital. A nurse bandaged his arm.
Daniel is going to the dentist. She's going to fill his tooth.
Laura is walking around town while her photos are being developed.

^
We can use have in this structure with the meaning 'experience something', often something unpleasant.

E.g.: - We had all our money stolen.

- The car had its mirror pulled off.

Exercise 9. Say what happened to these people.

E.g. Claire (whose luggage was searched in customs). - Claire had her luggage searched in customs.

1. Tom (whose car was stolen from outside his house) _____________________ .

2. Rita (whose rent was increased by ten per cent) _____________________ .

3. David (whose electricity has been cut off) _____________________ .

Exercise 10. Put in causative forms for the verbs in the brackets.

The more you own, the more there is to go wrong. You invest in a new hi-fi system and in no time you have to (it repair) ¹ _ get it repaired_ . You (a new washing machine install) ² ______________ and you have to buy expensive insurance to maintain it. You buy a car and need to (it service) ³ ______________ regularly. You buy a camera and spend a fortune (films develop and print) ⁴ ______________ . It's not only things that need constant attention. How often we have to (our eyes test) ⁵ ______________, (our teeth fill)⁶ ______________ and ( our chests X-ray) ⁷ ______________ ! But I had o smile last time I went to (my hair cut) ⁸ ______________ . A bold notice in the window announced: 'All customers promptly executed!' You certainly wouldn't need to (any jobs do) ⁹ ______________ after that!