Meaning
The Causative Structure is used when the subject of the sentence has or can have an indirect role in completing a verb. A clause’s agent is the noun that directly performs the verb. For Causatives, the agent either is purposefully not the subject (in most cases), or is ambiguous (for some passive Causatives).
- For infinitive and for Active Participle Causatives, the focus is on the subject getting or enabling the agent to do something. The agent is usually voiced.
- For Passive Participle Causatives, the focus is on the subject ensuring that the verb is completed. The agent may or may not be voiced. (If unvoiced, it is possible that the subject is the agent, as in “I’ll have the report finished by tomorrow,” but that’s not always clear.)
While the first verb of these Verb Patterns is technically the main verb of the clause, it primarily establishes the role of the subject in the situation, while the second verb in the pair expresses the actual action that is carried out, intended, or attempted.
Structure
There are generally three key components to the Causative Structure:
- a causative verb — These indicate strong influence, sometimes with nuance differentiating one from the next. The most common of causative verbs are get, have, and make, which are more functional than semantic (meaning they are important for structure, but carry little meaning on their own).
- an indirect object — For infinitive and active Causatives, the key indirect object is the agent, or the noun that will carry out the following verb. For passive Causatives, this indirect object is a patient, or a noun that is affected by the following verb (similar to Passive Voice).
- If pronouns, these indirect objects should be in the form of objects (like ‘me’, ‘her’, or ‘them’), not of subjects (like ‘I’, ‘she’, or ‘they’), even for active Causatives.
- a non-finite verb — These include Bare Infinitives, Full Infinitives, Active Participles, and Passive Participles. The first three have similar meanings, except that with Active Participles the verb is more likely to be ongoing. The final form (passive) is used to draw attention away from who the agent actually is.
Each type of non-finite verbs is associated with only a handful causative verbs. Knowing which non-finite verb to use depends on the causative verb, and vice-versa.
- BARE INFINITIVES (the base form) come after the causative verbs have, make, let, see, and bid.
- FULL INFINITIVES (the to form) come after the causative verb get, or after Verbs of Influence (see the Verb Patterns page for more).
- ACTIVE PARTICIPLES (the -ing form) come after the causative verbs get, have, and keep.
- PASSIVE PARTICIPLES (the -ed/en form) come after the causative verbs get, have, want, need, would like, see, and force.
Introducing Predicative Modifiers
Instead of initiating a non-finite verbs (component #3 above), some causatives can introduce a predicative modifier (usually an adjective). Modifiers can accompany the causative verbs make, want, need, would like, see, and keep, followed by an indirect object.
Usage
Enforcing Actions
Causatives are mostly about the subject getting a different party to do a task. This might be done through gentle prompting, strict coercion, casual supervision, a compensated exchange, or anything in-between. Alternatively, they could be about enabling the agent to carry out their task (with the pseudo-causative verbs let or help). The method the subject takes to make it all happen is largely expressed through the first verb, while the second verb express what the agent actually does.
Here are a few examples:
- “I’ll get the car running so it warm enough for you.”
- “Could you have her call me when she gets home?”
- “My mom made me clean my room before I could play with my friends.”
- “He need us to finish the project next week.”
- “I’ll see you pay for that mistake!”
- “They can’t force you to go if you don’t want to.”
- “Keep the spit turning to cook the meat evenly.”
Ensuring Completion
For passive Causatives, the agent is less important. The agent is usually unvoiced (though it could possibly come after ‘by’ following the second verb), which means that the true agent might be unclear. It’s even possible that the subject is the agent, in which case the sentence is probably less about performing the verb and more about the final result (much like Perfect tenses, which also make use of the Perfect/Passive Participle form).
Here are a few examples:
- “I got the application submitted just in time.”
- “Monica had her watch repaired.”
- “Francis would like his sandwich cut in half, please.”
- “That door sticks a bit, so I forced it closed.”
- “Did you finally get your questions answered?”
Notice how for the first and last examples, the subject (‘I’) is probably the agent of ‘submitted’ and ‘closed’. But for the third example, the subject (‘Francis’) is likely not the person cutting his sandwich. The second example is hard to tell without further context; Monica might have repaired her watch herself, or she could’ve taken it to a jeweler and paid for someone else to repair it for her.
Ensuring an Attribute
Sometimes it’s not about achieving any action, but rather about ascribing some quality to the targeted noun. In this way, such Causatives act much like Linking Verbs (except that the predicative modifiers are enforced).
Here are a few examples:
- “You don’t want to make her angry.”
- “They need you alert for tonight’s performance.”
- “I just want to see my children happy.”
- “Thanks for keeping me honest.”
Advanced Concepts
Distinctions for Causative Verbs
There is not a clear definition of ‘causative verbs’ and no definitive list as to which verbs qualify. It’s generally agreed upon that get and have are causative verbs, and make, let, bid, and help are other common contenders. See the Teaching Tips section for a table of all the causative verbs that Insights identifies.
There are a number of Verbs of Influence that can be used in Verb Patterns, including but not limited to ‘advise’, ’cause’, ‘compel’, ‘convince’, ‘demand’, ‘encourage’, ‘guide’, ‘invite’, ‘lead’, ‘persuade’, ‘pressure’, ‘prompt’, ‘spur’, etc. Most of these, especially when paired with a Full Infinitive, could serve as causative verbs. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll keep these separate from our list of causative verbs unless they also work with Bare Infinitives or Passive Participles.
Teaching Tips
Table
Here are the causative verbs that are associated with each type of non-finite verb form:
|
Bare Infinitive |
Full Infinitive |
Active Participle |
Passive Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| get | get | get | |
| have | have | have | |
| make | |||
| let | |||
| bid | bid | ||
| help | help | ||
| force | force | ||
| want | want | ||
| need | need | ||
| would like | would like | ||
| see* | see* | ||
| keep |
* ‘See’ as a causative verb does not mean ‘observe’, but rather ‘ensure’.
Remember that many other Verbs of Influence can work with Full Infinitives for a Causative meaning.
Connections to Other Grammar Topics
Standard Verb Patterns
The Causative Structure is a variation on Verb Patterns in that they are comprised of two verbs, perhaps with a noun between (for which that noun would serve as the indirect object of the first verb, but the subject of the second verb); the first verb is grammatically the main verb of the sentence, and the second verb is a non-finite verb form. Students should be familiar with standard Verb Patterns before diving into Causatives, as Causatives follow the same rules.
Passive Voice
Most clauses are in the Active Voice, which means that the subject is the agent of the verb. Again, the agent is the noun that directly carries out the action verb. However, there are certain grammar constructions that do not fit this mold:
- Most notable is the Passive Voice, in which the subject is not the agent because the subject isn’t the one that does the verb. Instead, the subject in Passive Voice sentences is the patient, which means it is affected by the verb.
- The Causative Structure is another deviation; while the subject is technically the agent of the causative verb, it is not (or not necessarily) the agent of the second verb (which probably carries more significance than the first verb).
Modals & Bare Infinitives
One of the few other times that we use a Bare Infinitive in a sentence is after the core Modal Verbs (eg: “can’t leave”, “must remember”, “might reveal”, “could fall”). There are also some marginal modals that take on most (but not all) of the properties of modals, including that they are followed by Bare Infinitives. Such marginal modals include dare, had better, need (archaic), and would rather.
While these core and marginal modals are not Causative verbs, their combination with the following infinitive is structured just like other Bare Infinitive Verb Pattern.
Further Reading
Encyclopedia Pages
- Standard Verb Patterns — more verb + verbal formations
- Passive Voice — another grammar topic in which the subject is not the agent
- Participles — more about the -ing form and the -ed/en form
- Modifiers of Purpose and Result — another way to express intentions or attempts to get things done
Infinitives & Participles
Types
Bare Infinitives • Full Infinitives • Active Participles • Perfect/Passive Participles
Full Infinitive topics
Active Participle topics
Active Adjectives • Future Continuous • Gerunds • Participial Phrases • Past Continuous • Present Continuous • Present Perfect Continuous • Verb Patterns
Perfect Participle topics
Future Perfect • Perfect Modals • Participial Phrases • Past Perfect • Present Perfect • Present Perfect Continuous
