Causative sentences in English

Question

I have some questions about causative structures in English. I know they are used when causing someone to do something. I am confused about its structures and meanings.

For instance,
We will be having a big party when we have him see back in the office - I don’t think this is a correct sentence.

In simple words, “We will be having a big party when he comes back to office.”

Which command you were running to have this error occur?

Vs
Which command you were running to have this error occurred?

What is the difference between these sentences?

Please explain to me the difference.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

hey.....
the first sentence is not semantically correct.but we say for instance:
I'll have the house repaired (I will assign someone to do this)
or
I'll repair the house (I will do it myself)

Harry1999 · Answer

AnonymousI'll have the house repaired (I will assign someone to do this)

Yes, it's causative. It's same as passive. It implies "cause someone to be done by someone else".

AlpheccaStars · Answer

harry1999I have some questions about causative structures in English. I know they are used when causing someone to do something. I am confused about its structures and meanings.

Here is a good tutorial: http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/let.html

harry1999We will be having a big party when we have him see back in the office - I don’t think this is a correct sentence.

That's right, it is not correct.

harry1999Which command you were running to have this error occur?VsWhich command you were running to have this error occurred?What is the difference between these sentences?

Neither is correct or natural English.

Which command were you running when this error occurred? (one time in the past)
Which command do you run to cause the error to occur? (repeatable error)
Which command causes this error?

Harry1999 · Answer

First sentence was said by an American native speaker of English. I thought he was correct. Now, I think they could be wrong at times.

The case was, I got the error after running that command, and then he asked me the first question.

Just one more question,

what is the difference between, "He has his money paid" and "He has had his money paid"?

It's like "do you have the latest software installed".

1. He himself paid the money.
2. He made someone to pay the money.

Am I right?

CalifJim · Answer

harry1999We will be having a big party when we have him see back in the office - I don’t think this is a correct sentence.

You are right in your judgment. It is not a correct sentence.

harry1999In simple words, “We will be having a big party when he comes back to office.”

Correct. By the way, there's nothing "causative" here.

harry1999Which command you were running to have this error occur? Vs Which command you were running to have this error occurred?

The word order 'you were' is wrong for a question. Which command were you running to have this error occur? is the correct one. The one with occurred is wrong. I would say it without the causative. Which command were you running when this error occurred?

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

harry1999what is the difference between, "He has his money paid" and "He has had his money paid"?

English speakers are very, very unlikely to say either of those sentences. Nevertheless, it seems you are asking about the difference between 'has' and 'has had'. These are the present tense and the present perfect tense of the verb have.

I have, you have, he has, ...
I have had, you have had, he has had, ...

So the difference is between an action that occurs regularly in the present and an action that occurred once in the past.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

harry19991. He himself paid the money.2. He made someone to pay the money.

Unless otherwise stated, it's assumed that you pay money. To pay is to give money to someone, so you don't say "paid money". The idea of 'money' is already included in the word 'pay'.

1. He paid. / He himself paid.
2. He had Joe pay. / He arranged for Joe to pay. / He persuaded Joe to pay. / He made Joe pay.

harry1999Do you have the latest software installed?

'installed' is an adjective; this is not a causative construction. It's like asking Is the latest software installed (on your computer)? but expressing it a little differently. Here's a similar example:

Do you have the documents ready? (You were supposed to get the documents ready. Are they ready?)

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

harry1999what is the difference between, "He has his money paid" and "He has had his money paid"?

Here are a couple of examples:

1) He has his salary sent electronically to his bank account. (The company does not give him a check or cash; it deposits the money in his bank.)

2) He has had his salary sent electronically to his bank account, but now he gets paid in cash. (He used to have electronic deposit, but he changed the method of payment with his company.)

Harry1999 · Answer

Thank you CJ for the help. It helped me a lot.

Great.

Harry1999 · Answer

Thank you AlpheccaStars for the help. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Causative sentences in English

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