Poligoは199円からの英文添削と分かりやすい解説をします。三日間の無料体験があるので、頑張って英語に挑戦してみませんか？
ログイン
Author profile・作者プロフィル
Matthew is from New Zealand. He taught English in Tokyo and Auckland from 2002 to 2011. Now he lives in Brazil. In his spare time he plays tennis, cricket and guitar. He does crosswords, plays video games and likes to cook. He would like to go surfing, but he lives more than 1,000 km from the sea. He speaks decent Japanese and is learning Portuguese. Matthew is co-founder of Poligo.
Causative (Make / Force / Have / Get / Allow / Let / Help)
By Matthew, 13 August 2008 - 12:26am
The Causative Relationship
By Meaning and Nuance
Grammar name (English):
CausativeGrammar name (日本語):
使役動詞Causatives are used to say that a person is forced to or made to do something.
Use a causative when one person somehow makes another person do something:
| The boss made me stay until 10pm. |
| David had the barber cut his hair. |
| My wife let me go fishing. |
The Causative Relationship
The Causative Relationship
In a causative sentence there is always some kind of "power" relationship. One person has the power to change or command another person's actions:
- Workers will do what the boss says.
- Kids listen to their parents.
- A customer can tell stafff what to do.
As long as one person can choose and decide what another person does, then we think they have a kind of power. The key is if A says nothing, B does nothing. A causes B to act or to do something. B does the action (the doer), but A is the origin or start of the action (the causer). For example:
My father made me clean the car.
Causatives show a power relationship between the causer and the doer.
Causative Words
English has seven main causative patterns, used like auxiliary verbs. They are:
| make | force |
| have |
get |
| let | allow |
| help |
|
Using Causatives
Causative patterns can be divided in two ways: by grammar or by meaning and nuance.
By Grammar
The causative words can be made into two groups. Some of the words need "to" (the infinitive), but the others don't. Look at the table below:
| + verb (bare infinitive) | + to verb (infinitive) |
|
make [SOMEONE] do have [SOMEONE] do let [SOMEONE] do |
force [SOMEONE] to do get [SOMEONE] to do allow [SOMEONE] to do |
You can choose to use "to" with "help":
| help [SOMEONE] do | help [SOMEONE] to do |
Some examples:
 |
The boss makes me work on Saturday. | The boss forces me to work on Saturday. |
| The customer had the waiter bring a menu. | The customer got the waiter to bring a menu. | |
| Her mother lets her watch TV. | Her mother allows her to watch TV. | |
| Waiters help customers choose wine. | Waiters help customers to choose wine. |
By Meaning and Nuance
The nuance of the situation changes when you use different causative words. If you use make/force, have/get, let/allow or help, then the feelings of B are different.
| B does not want or does not choose to. A decides. |
A makes / forces B |
| B does not care, but A must ask. |
A gets /has B |
| B wants to, but needs permission from A. | A lets / allows B |
| B can't without A. | A helps B |
Look at the same examples again, but think about B's feelings:
| |
The boss makes me work on Saturday. My friend made me laugh. |
The boss forces me to work on Saturday. |
| The customer had the waiter bring a menu. | The customer got the waiter to bring a menu. | |
| Her mother lets her watch TV. | Her mother allows her to watch TV. | |
| Waiters help customers choose wine. | Waiters help customers to choose wine. |
Notes:
- Causatives can be very different language to language. They can be a challenge for learners.
- Japanese does not have different nuances with させる like English.
- Be careful with "make"—it is a special case. There is another article about "make" here.
- Words like "motivate", "lead" and "inspire" are used like causatives too. For example, "The story inspired me to learn guitar"; "The data lead us to believe that our experiment was a success"; or, "My mother motivated me to study hard." They follow the same grammar pattern as "force", "get" and "allow" but the nuance is much more positive, or gentle.
Here is a list of these other causative words:- ask;
- motivate;
- lead;
- inspire;
- permit;
- persuade;
- convince;
- bribe;
- encourage;
- pay.
| Homework |
| Write 3 sentences using each of the main causative words—that's 21 sentences. Write 3 about "force", 3 about "make", 3 about "have" and so on. Send your sentences to Poligo and we will check them. |
| Poligoは英文添削と分かりやすい解説をします。三日間の無料体験があるので、頑張ってこの宿題に挑戦しましょう！このリンクからポリゴに登録すれば、最初に購入したポイント＋20%のボーナス！ |
Comments
Re: Causative (Make / Force / Have / Get / Allow / Let / Help)
The division by meaning is very useful, and quite elegant. In my past teaching experience, too much focus was on the division by grammar. If I had read your division by meaning, my lessons on causatives would have been much better.
Re: Causative (Make / Force / Have / Get / Allow / Let / Help)
This is a very succinct description of a difficult grammar point. The grammar and the usage are separated very nicely. Context and nuance are important here as well.
Force and Make are very similar in meaning but the nuance is different sometimes. For example:
The guards at Abu Ghraib (Iraq) forced the prisoners to undress.
The guards at San Quentin (USA) made the prisoners line up every morning.
In both situations the prisoners do something they don't want to. However the degree of power is different. FORCE suggests physical power. MAKE suggests authority, or mental power. Another example:
My girlfriend made me buy her dinner - (maybe we forgot her birthday and she was angry) - this is natural.
My girlfriend forced me to buy her dinner - (a very scary girlfriend !!) - this is unnatural.
..............................................
GET and HAD are also slightly different in nuance. For example
I had the water bring me some water
I got my friend to bring some DVDs to my house
In both situations, we asked someone to do something. However, GET is friendlier, like a favour from a friend, HAD is a little cold, like to staff in a shop. Another example.
I got my mum to make me lunch. - ( your mum is kind, and you feel lucky ) - this is more natural
I had my mum make me lunch. - ( no special meaning, but ....... a bit cold) - this is less natural
*** be careful here - in the causative passive form, HAD can also be used to talk about things that we didn't ask for and don't want ! For example - I had my wallet stolen / I had my house broken into. GET cannot be used like this.
.............................................
LET and ALLOW are also different.
My friend let me stay at his house because I missed the last train.
Some restaurants in japan allow dogs to come inside.
In both situations, we asked permission to do something from someone with authority. They said yes. LET is casual and ALLOW is quite formal.
My friend let me use his iPod - this is natural
My friend allowed me to use his iPod - ( the situation is wrong) - this is unnatural.
..............................................
This language can be a bit abstract for students, so if you are teaching it, do role plays that create the situation that allows the language to be used - eg - a parent telling a child what to do. " Eat your vegetables !" / eg - asking a friend to do something " Hey Bob, could you bring some DVDs to my place ?".... " You can, great thanks so much ! ". / asking favours " Bob, i missed my last train. Can I stay at your place ?" ... " Its ok ? Great, thanks a lot" .
Then ask " What happened ?" - I made my son eat his vegetable. / I got Bob to bring some DVDs / Bob let me stay at his house.