The Passive: have something done (Causative have)

We use a causative verb when we want to talk about something that someone else did for us or for another person. It means that the subject caused the action to happen, but didn’t do it themselves. Maybe they paid, or asked, or persuaded the other person to do it. For example, we can say:

• I cleaned my house. (This means I cleaned it myself).

If I paid someone to clean it, of course I can say:

• A cleaner cleaned my house.

But, another way is to use a causative construction. So I can also say:

• I had my house cleaned.

In a sense, using a causative verb is similar to using a passive. The important thing is that the house is now clean. We don’t focus on who did the cleaning.

Have + object + past participle (have something done)

We usually use ‘have something done’ when we are talking about paying someone to do something for us. It’s often used for services. The form is ‘subject + have + object + past participle’.

• I had my car washed.
• John will have his house painted.

Get + object + past participle (get something done)

We can also use ‘subject + get + object + past participle’. This has the same meaning as ‘have’, but is less formal.

• The students get their essays checked.
• I’ll get my hair cut next week.
• He got his washing machine fixed.

Have someone do something (have + person + infinitive)

We can also use the construction ‘subject + have + person + infinitive’. This has a very similar meaning to ‘have something done’, which we’ve already talked about, but this time we say who did the thing – we talk about the person who we asked to do the thing for us.

• I had the electrician look at my broken light.
• The doctor will have the nurse call the patients.
• The teacher had the students write the answers on the whiteboard.

Get someone to do something (get + person + to + infinitive)

Finally, we can also use the construction ‘get + someone + to + infinitive’. Again, this means that you cause the other person to do the action, maybe by paying them to do it, or by asking them to do it, or by persuading them to do it.

• She gets her son to do his homework by promising him ice cream when he’s finished.
• I got the cleaner to clean under the cupboards.

Sometimes, this construction has the feeling that we needed to convince someone to do something, while the other constructions on this page are neutral.

Practice:

Causatives 1

Causatives 2

The Passive

When should we use the Passive?

1. When we want to change the focus of the sentence:
   • The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the painting than the artist in this sentence)
2. When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious or ‘people in general’:
   • He was arrested (obvious agent, the police).
   • My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).
   • The road is being repaired (unimportant agent).
   • The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general).
3. In factual or scientific writing:
   • The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer.
4. In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/ they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing):
   • The brochure will be finished next month.
5. In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve style:
   • Three books are used regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr. Bell. (‘Dr. Bell wrote the books’ sound clumsy)
6. When the subject is very long:
   • I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More natural than: ‘how well the students did in the test surprised me’)

An active sentence like I drank two cups of coffee has the subject first (the person or thing that does the verb), followed by the verb, and finally the object (the person or thing that the action happens to).

So, in this example, the subject is ‘I’, the verb is ‘drank’ and the object is ‘two cups of coffee’.

But, we don’t always need to make sentences this way. We might want to put the object first, or perhaps we don’t want to say who did something. This can happen for lots of reasons (see the explanation further down the page). In this case, we can use a passive, which puts the object first:

• Two cups of coffee were drunk (we can add ‘by me’ if we want, but it isn’t necessary).

How to make the Passive in English

We make the passive by putting the verb ‘to be’ into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding ‘ed’ to the infinitive. So play becomes played. Click here to learn about irregular verbs.

Tense	Active	Passive
present simple	I make a cake.	A cake is made (by me).
present continuous	I am making a cake.	A cake is being made (by me).
past simple	I made a cake.	A cake was made (by me).
past continuous	I was making a cake.	A cake was being made(by me).
present perfect	I have made a cake.	A cake has been made (by me).
pres. perf. continuous	I have been making a cake.	A cake has been being made (by me).
past perfect	I had made a cake.	A cake had been made(by me).
future simple	I will make a cake.	A cake will be made (by me).
future perfect	I will have madea cake.	A cake will have been made (by me).

Exercises here:

Exercise 1:  present simple passive 

Exercise 2: past simpel passive

Exercise 3: present perfect passive

Exercise 4: Future simple passive

Exercise 5: Mixed tense passive

Exercise 6: verbs with 2 objects

Describing photos

Describing photos (comparing, contrasting and speculating)

You are going to practise language for;

1. Describing photos
2. Comparing and contrasting photos (discussing similarities and differences)
3. Speculating on what might be happening
4. Reacting to photos (giving opinions)

Discuss
Look at the presentation. Follow the instructions and talk about some of the photos

Write
The language used here for comparing and contrasting / speculating is also useful for writing discussion / argument essays. Plan:

1. Introduction – describe the situation / topic to be discussed
2. Compare / contrast ideas (for and against / advantages and disadvantages)
3. Speculate on solutions to problems raised by the question
4. Conclusion – give an opinion

Which pairs or groups of photos in the presentation could be used to demonstrate ideas for argument writing topics  about education, technology, food, family, work, leisure, health, advertising etc?

Common list of verbs followed by -ing or to-infinitive

Common verbs followed by the gerund:
enjoy………………….. I enjoyed living in France.
fancy………………….. I fancy seeing a film tonight.
discuss………………. We discussed going on holiday together.
dislike………………… I dislike waiting for buses.
finish…………………. We’ve finished preparing for the meeting.
mind………………….. I don’t mind coming early.
suggest…………….. He suggested staying at the Grand Hotel.
recommend………. They recommended meeting earlier.
keep………………….. He kept working, although he felt ill.
avoid………………….. She avoided talking to her boss.
miss ……………………She misses living near the beach.
appreciate………….. I appreciated her helping me.
delay…………………. He delayed doing his taxes.
postpone…………… He postponed returning to Paris.
practise…………….. She practised singing the song.
consider……………. She considered moving to New York.
can’t stand………… He can’t stand her smoking in the office.
can’t help………….. He can’t help talking so loudly.
risk…………………… .He risked being caught.
admit………………… He admitted cheating on the test.
deny…………………. He denied committing the crime.
mention…………….. He mentioned going to that college.
imagine…………….. He imagines working there one day.
tolerate……………… I tolerated her talking.
understand………… I understand his quitting.
involve………………. The job involves travelling to Japan once a month.
complete…………… He completed renovating the house.
report………………… He reported her stealing the money.
anticipate…………… I anticipated arriving late.
recall………………….. Tom recalled using his credit card at the store.

Common verbs followed by to + infinitive:
agree …………..She agreed to give a presentation at the meeting
ask*…………….. I asked to leave early / I asked him to leave early
decide…………. We decided to go out for dinner
help*…………….. He helped to clean the kitchen / he helped his flatmate to clean
the kitchen
plan……………… She plans to buy a new flat next year
hope…………… .I hope to pass the exam
learn…………… .They are learning to sing
want*…………… .I want to come to the party / I want him to come to the party
would like*…….. I would like to see her tonight / I would like you to see her
tonight
promise……….. We promised not to be late
can afford…….. We can’t afford to go on holiday.
manage……….. He managed to open the door without the key.
prepare* ……….They prepared to take the test /the teachers prepared the students
to take the test.
demand……….. He demanded to speak to Mr. Harris.
choose………… .I chose to help.
offer…………….. Frank offered to drive us to the supermarket.
wait……………… .She waited to buy a movie ticket.
would hate*…… I’d hate to be late / I’d hate you to be late.
would love*…… I’d love to come / I’d love him to come.
seem……………. Nancy seemed to be disappointed.
expect*………… They expect to arrive early / they expect Julie to arrive early
intend…………… We intend to visit you next spring.
pretend………… The child pretended to be a monster.
refuse………….. The guard refused to let them enter the building.
tend……………… He tends to be a little shy.
would prefer*… I’d prefer to do it / I’d prefer him to do it.
deserve……….. He deserves to go to jail.
appear…………. His health appeared to be better.
arrange………… Naomi arranged to stay with her cousin in Miami.
claim…………….. She claimed to be a princess.

 

*We can use an object before the infinitive with these verbs.

(Note that ‘help’ can also be followed by the infinitive without ‘to’ with no difference
in meaning: ‘I helped to carry it’ = ‘I helped carry it’.)

Verbs + ing or to-infinitive

Gerunds and infinitives

It can be a little difficult to know when to use gerunds and infinitives.

We use gerunds (verb + ing):

• After certain verbs – I enjoy singing
• After prepositions – I drank a cup of coffee before leaving
• As the subject or object of a sentence – Swimming is good exercise

We use ‘to’ + infinitive:

• After certain verbs – We decided to leave
• After many adjectives – It’s difficult to get up early
• To show purpose – I came to London to study English

• We use gerunds (verb + ing)

We use the bare infinitive (the infinitive without ‘to’):

• After modal verbs – I can meet you at six o’clock
• After ‘let’, ‘make’ and (sometimes) ‘help’ – The teacher let us leave early
• After some verbs of perception (see, watch, hear, notice, feel, sense) – I watched her walk away
• After expressions with ‘why’ – why go out the night before an exam?

Click for exercises on PDF here

Ex 1

Ex 2

Ex 3

Ex 4

2) Speak
Look at the list of verbs in the presentation and make sentences using a gerund or an infinitive after each verb.
Example – I can’t stand driving in the city.

3)Write some sentences using the verbs above which are true for you.
Example – I detest eating prunes.
I’m just a poor EFL teacher. I can’t afford to buy new shoes.

4)Practise
Here are 5 songs with gerunds and infinitives in the titles.
How many do you know? Can you think of any more songs with a gerund or an infinitive in the title?

I promise to try

I can´t stand losing you

Imagine (having no possessions…)

I want to break free