to have

Question

I took my car to the garage to have them check the air-conditioner.to have them check the air-conditioner.which grammar structure used here ?is "to have" infinitive (subject) form or phrase ?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

maskarvaibhavwhich grammar structure used here ?is "to have" infinitive (subject) form or phrase ?

'To' is a short form of the phrasal preposition 'in order to'.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

to have them check the air-conditioner.

The verbs Make, Have, and Let can be used in this structure. These are "causative" verb structures. The verb following make, have or let is the bare infinitive (active voice). With "have" the past participle is also possible (passive voice). In the passive voice, the verb comes after the object.

I took my car to the garage to have the air-conditioner checked.

I took my car to the garage to let them check the air-conditioner. (there is no passive for "let".)

They broke my air-conditioner when they checked it, so I took my car to the garage to make them fix the air-conditioner.

Maskarvaibhav · Answer

Thank you

I have another question

“I took my car to the garage to have them check the air-conditioner.”

Is ‘to’(in order to)showing transition here ?

And

Which is the subject ?

Can I say , I have them check the air –conditioner ? like (I had John fix the car.)

CalifJim · Answer

maskarvaibhavIs ‘to’(in order to)showing transition here ?

"To show transition" doesn't mean much of anything here to me. Are you sure that's what you meant? You'll need to state it differently or give further explanation.

maskarvaibhav~~Which~~ What is the subject ?

"I" is the subject of the main clause, and by default "I"is also the implicit subject of the infinitive clause. So it is I who took the car in, and it is I who had them check the air-conditioner. "them" is the subject of the subclause; they checked the air-conditioner (presumably).

maskarvaibhavCan I say "I have them check the air-conditioner"?

Yes, if it's a regularly occurring action.

Every time I take the car in for a check-up I have them check the air-conditioner.

CJ

Maskarvaibhav · Answer

"Is ‘to’(in order to)showing transition here " have taken from 1st Reply (Mister Micawber)

Actually I have asked second Post question Related to AlpheccaStars 's answer (She said this is a "causative" verb structures.)

so I have still not cleared about my second Post (Original post:to have?)

my question is how can we ignore the subject I ,and take causative verb "have"

CalifJim · Answer

maskarvaibhavtaken from 1st Reply (Mister Micawber)

OK. Mister Micawber will have to respond to that.

maskarvaibhavI have asked second Post question Related to AlpheccaStars 's answer

OK. Alphecca Stars will have to respond to that.

CJ

Maskarvaibhav · Answer

i am not objecting you. i gave you a reference. i am learning CalifJim:

CalifJim · Answer

maskarvaibhavmy question is how can we ignore the subject I ,and take causative verb "have"

OK. Let's go back to the original question.

I took my car to the garage to have them check the air-conditioner.

to have them check the air-conditioner.

Which grammar structure is used here?

to have them check the air-conditioner is an infinitive clause of purpose. You can paraphrase the sentence like this:

I took my car to the garage for the purpose of having them check the air-conditioner.

In other words,

I took my car to the garage because I wanted them to check the air-conditioner.
____________

When we use an infinitive of purpose, there is no subject. We assume that the subject of the infinitive is the same as the subject of the main clause of the sentence. We are not ignoring any subjects.

I took the car to the garage, and I had them check the air-conditioner.

Here's another infinitive of purpose:

I went to the book shop to buy a book. (I went to the shop because I wanted to buy a book.)

____________

The topic of "causative have" is a completely different question and has nothing to do with infinitives of purpose.

CJ

Maskarvaibhav · Answer

"I took my car to the garage to have them check the air-conditioner."

to have them check the air-conditioner.

I have got three different answer

AlpheccaStars says causative" verb structures

{to have them check the air-conditioner.

The verbs Make, Have, and Let can be used in this structure. These are "causative" verb structures. The verb following make, have or let is the bare infinitive (active voice). With "have" the past participle is also possible (passive voice). In the passive voice, the verb comes after the object.

I took my car to the garage to have the air-conditioner checked.

I took my car to the garage to let them check the air-conditioner. (there is no passive for "let".)

They broke my air-conditioner when they checked it, so I took my car to the garage to make them fix the air-conditioner. }

Another : The words "to have" form an infinitive. The entire phrase is an infinitive phrase acting as an adverb modifying the verb "took".

CalifJim :infinitive clause of purpose.

so I am still confused

CalifJim · Answer

maskarvaibhavI have got three different answers

That's because your question was interpreted in different ways because it was not clear exactly what you wanted us to tell you about. Which grammar structure is used here? is asking about a group of words that have different grammar structures, depending which features you focus on. All of the answers are valid answers.

[ Suppose you pointed to a building and asked someone what it is. Some people will say it's a building with white columns. Some people will say it's a large building on a busy street. Some people will say that it is a good place to hide. Some people will say it's a post office. Some people will say that it has a flat roof. Some people will say that it has no basement. There is no correct answer. These are all valid observations about the same building. ]

A.Stars thought you wanted to know about the use of "have" as in "Susan had Jack fix the car" because the words you asked about contained "have" used in that way.

As for the other answers, they are the same. They are just explained in different words. An infinitive clause of purpose is an infinitive clause (or phrase — some people call them phrases) that acts as an adverb modifying "took". The infinitive clause of purpose is just one of the different kinds of infinitive clauses.

Even if you get different answers because your question suggests different ways of answering your question, you can still learn from all the answers. Each one tells you something about one of the many features of the words you asked about.

CJ

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"Is ‘to’(in order to)showing transition here " have taken from 1st Reply (Mister Micawber)

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