Causative Passive

Causatives in the active voice:

The bad weather caused him to have an accident.

=The bad weather make him have an accident.

When I was a teenager, my parents didn’t allow

me to smoke.=

When I was a teenager, my parents didn’t let me

smoke.

I asked him to get me some coffee =

I had him get me some coffee.

“help” can take either the base form or the infinitive—both are

correct:My friend helped me move last weekend.

My friend helped me to move last weekend.

(active) I had the dentist pull my tooth.

I had the tooth pulled.

I took the computer to the repair shop, and paid

them to fix it

I had my computer repaired.

I paid somebody to prepare my taxes for me

I had my taxes prepared.

I went to the hairdresser and paid them to cut my

hair

I had my hair cut.

When you use “have” causative, you can also

use “get”:I got the tooth pulled.

I got my computer prepared.

I got my taxes prepared.I got my hair got.

I got the tooth pulled.I got my computer

prepared.I got my taxes prepared.

I got my hair got.In these sentences, “got”

is more informal than “have.”

BE CAREFUL!

The causative passive with “had” looks a lot like the past perfect, which has a different

meaning!

I had my hair cut = I paid somebody else to cut it.

The hairdresser had already cut my hair when I changed my mind about

the style I wanted.(Active voice, past perfect = The hairdresser cut my hair, and then I changed

my mind.)

I had my hair cut.had + noun + past

participle

The hairdresser had cut my hair

had + past participle + noun

Causative passive or past perfect?

I had sold my car before I moved here.

I had my car sold . (I asked or paid another

person to sell my car for me.)

I had my car sold by my sister. (I asked my sister to sell my car for me.)

It is possible to have a past perfect and an

causative passive in the same sentence!

I had just had my car fixed when I had the accident.(I had my car fixed, and a short time after that, I had

the accident.)

• When do we choose to use a causative

passive?

It’s the same reasons for using any passives—

the active agent is obvious

unimportantsomething I don’t want

to tell you

I had my car fixed. (Who fixed my car? A mechanic,

obviously.)

With a passive causative, this is the most likely

reason.

The Obama administration had a

website designed.(Who actually designed it?

I’m telling you.)

The Obama administration had a

website designed.(Who actually designed it?

I’m telling you.)

We use a passive either because we don’t know or because everybody knows

so we don’t have to say who did it.