Causative Sentence Patterns

Causative

When we do not perform an action directly and get the action done by somebody else, we use Causative sentences. Causing somebody else to do something for us is expressed by using a sentence pattern with ‘GET’ or ‘HAVE’. When you use this sentence pattern, special care should be taken in separating the parts of the sentence properly, or else it might cause difficulty in understanding what is expressed.

Pattern: S + get / have + O + V3 + (by agent)

e.g.

The agent is not always needed. If you get something done by a particular person, you are expected to give the agent.

e.g.

I got my bad tooth taken out by Dr White.

Look at these two pictures and read the sentences in the second picture.

Living room with a family having tea, a maid serving and empty speech bubbles to fill in

Family having tea: "I am having a cup of tea", "I am getting a cup of tea prepared."

Symbols used:Verb family figures V1 to V5 followed by an object figure and V3 for causative sentences

Table of causative tense patterns with get or have, with the verb family figures below

Businessman thinking of Sun Beam Car Wash: "I will get my car washed tomorrow."

Future simple causative pattern S + will + get + O + V3: "I will get my car washed tomorrow."

Businessman by a clock: "I will be getting my car washed tomorrow morning."

Future progressive causative pattern S + will + be + getting + O + V3

Businessman: "I will have been getting my car washed for half an hour by 9.30."

Future perfect progressive causative pattern S + will + have + been + getting + O + V3

Businessman by a clock: "I will have got my car washed by 10."

Future perfect causative pattern S + will + have + got + O + V3: "I will have got my car washed by 10."

Businessman: "I always get my car washed at 'Sun Beam Car Wash'."

Present simple causative pattern S + get + O + V3 with a list: I get, he gets, she gets

Man at Sun Beam Car Wash: "I am going to get my car washed."

Immediate future causative pattern S + is/am/are + going to + get + O + V3

Man at Sun Beam Car Wash as a worker cleans his car: "I am getting my car washed."

Present progressive causative pattern S + is/am/are + getting + O + V3

Man at Sun Beam Car Wash: "I have been getting my car washed for one hour."

Present perfect progressive causative pattern S + has/have + been + getting + O + V3

Man by his clean red car: "I have got my car washed."

Present perfect causative pattern S + has/have + got + O + V3: "I have got my car washed."

Businessman by a red car behind a gate: "I got my car washed yesterday."

Past simple causative pattern S + got + O + V3: "I got my car washed yesterday."

Businessman tells a woman "I was getting my car washed when you gave me a call."

Past progressive causative pattern S + was/were + getting + O + V3

Businessman: "I would get my car washed at Super car wash yesterday morning if they had enough time."

Conditional simple causative pattern S + would + get + O + V3

Businessman: "I would have got my car washed at Super car wash if I had gone two days ago."

Immediate past causative pattern S + was/were + going to + get + O + V3

Look at these pictures and read the sentences in the speech bubbles.

Couple at a green house thinking of a blue one: "We will get our house painted blue next month."

Couple thinking of a painters' van: "We will be getting our house painted by Mod Painters."

Man in a black car: "We will have been getting our house painted for 15 days by next Sunday."

Man in a black car: "We will have got the house painted by the end of this month."

Couple and painters at a green house: "We get our house painted every year."

Couple and painters at a green house: "We are going to get the house painted blue."

Couple watching painters: "We are getting the house painted blue."

Painter on a ladder at a half-blue house: "We have been getting our house painted for two weeks."

Couple at their blue house: "We have got our house painted blue."

Couple at a blue house: "We got our house painted green last year."

 

Two women at a blue house: "We were getting our house painted when a friend of mine visited me."

Two women at a blue house: "We had been getting our house painted for two weeks when a painter fell off a ladder"

Couple indoors: "We had got the exterior painted blue before we got the interior painted."

Woman tells a man "I was going to get my room painted yellow. I changed my mind and got it painted pink."

Man tells a woman "I would get the doors and windows painted light brown if you asked me."

Couple at a blue house: "I would have got the exterior painted dark grey if you had asked me."

 

 

 

Amarasiri Ganewatta

Amarasiri Ganewatta

Director, English Language Laboratory

Amarasiri Ganewatta is the director of the English Language Laboratory. He is a retired English teacher and a language translator living in California, USA.

Email: ganewatta@gmail.com

Books by the Author

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Available at Amazon
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          Grammar is like the skeleton of the human body. If there is any deformation in any part of the skeleton, the others will immediately notice it. In the same manner, if ever you make any grammatical mistakes, your audience will notice it. That is why learning grammar is highly important as a language skill.
   

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