The Causative

1. Form

When we ask or force somebody to do something for us, we can use the following structures:

1) to have something done: Sue had her hair cut by the hairdresser.

2) to get something done: I got my car repaired yesterday.

3) to get somebody to do something: I will get my brother to fix the printer.

4) to have somebody do something: I will have my brother fix the printer.

2. Have

Sometimes, the structure suggests difficulty or bad luck. ‘Have’ is more common in these situations

I had my car stolen.

Sometimes it is unclear from the meaning if we asked somebody to do an action for us or if it was bad luck:

We had the hole garden dug up. (‘dug up’ can mean we asked somebody to dig up the garden, or perhaps that a dog dug in the garden and destroyed the plants)

3. Get

‘Get’ is more common in spoken English and ‘have’ is more common in formal English.

I’ll get her to type up the document.

I’ll have a meeting arranged for next Tuesday.

Get can mean ‘manage’ to do something’.

I got the house cleaned by the time the visitors arrived.

4. Needs doing

We often use an idiomatic expression which means that we have to do an action:

need doing or need done

I need to clean my shoes. My shoes need cleaning.

You need to water the plants. The plants need watering.

Note: We don’t mention the person who does the action.

‘Need done’ is a regional expression and is generally not considered correct.

5. Get + past participle

We can often use ‘get’ with a past participle to mean ‘become’. Its meaning is similar to ‘be + past participle.

We often use the following expressions:

To get + married / divorced / dressed / hurt / done / accepted / chosen / arrested, etc.

She got dresses quickly.

His fingers got burned.

They got divorced last year.

I will get the letter typed up.