happen/happened

Question

Dear membersIt is a cornerstone to good mental health and an indispensable element in making "things" "happen/happened."I thinkd the above sentence should have "happened" at the end as "things" is not a person.  Am I right?ThanksSSY

Ozzourti · Accepted Answer

SSY JungI thinkd the above sentence should have "happened" at the end as "things" is not a person. Am I right?

No, and I'm afraid that I don't understand your reasoning.

Causative 'make' is followed by the base form of a verb.

CalifJim · Answer

SSY Jungmaking "things" "happen

The pattern is make ... happen. The second verb is in the plain dictionary form (i.e., without any ending).

let, have, see, hear, and help also work like this.

Let the children play in the back yard.
We had the students write essays.
Jack saw Jill fall down the hill.
I heard them knock on the door.
Lana is helping Steve assemble the bicycle.

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

As a verb, happen is regular.
Either the present or past can be used with "things" as the subject.

Those things happened many years ago.
Things happen.

In your example, it is following a causative verb, in the base form, as others have remarked.

He just let it happen.
The boss tells us to make things happen around here.
I had that happen to me, too!

Odessa Dawn · Answer

CalifJim Jack saw Jill fall down the hill.

5jj already told us that we can use either –ed or –ing form after the verb see.

CalifJim · Answer

Odessa Dawn5jj already told us that we can use either –ed or –ing form after the verb see.

That's true, but the original question did not mention anything about -ing forms, so it was best not to confuse anyone by adding things that nobody asked about.

In case you wanted to know, of the verbs I mentioned, see, hear, and have can also take the -ing form, but not let or help.

CJ

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