VOA慢速英语2015 日常语法:使役动词把你搞疯了吗?

Everyday Grammar: Are Causatives Making You Crazy? 日常语法:使役动词把你搞疯了吗?

his week's Everyday Grammar looks at the grammatical¹ forms called causatives. Basically, causatives express how one actor causes another actor to do something. You know the meaning of make as in "I made a cake." But in the sentence, "My boss made me work late," make has a causative meaning. In other words, my boss forced me to work late.

What are causatives?

A causative sentence starts with a subject, followed by a causative verb, then an object noun or pronoun, and then the simple form of the verb. Three of the most common causatives in English are make, have, and get.

In the book Understanding and Using English Grammar, Betty Azar explains it this way:

X makes Y do something - that is, X forces Y to do something

X has Y do something - this means X requests that Y do something

X gets Y to do something - this means X persuades Y to do something

How to use make

Let's start with the causative make. As we mentioned before, make means that X forces Y to do something. The meaning of the causative make is stronger than have and get.

We often hear the causative form of make in love songs. Listen for the causative as Elton John sings.

What do I do to make you love me

What have I got to do to be heard?

Elton knows, however, it is impossible - you cannot make someone love you.

In the movie "As Good as It Gets," actors Jack² Nicholson and Helen Hunt play a couple falling in love. Listen to this dramatic compliment³ from Nicholson's character Melvin Udall.

Nicholson: OK, now, I got a real great compliment for you. And it's true. You make me want to be a better man.

Hunt: That's maybe the best compliment of my life.

Melvin's statement is possible – she made, or caused him to want to change.

How to use have

Now let's look at the causative meaning of have. For example "I had her cut my hair." You can also use have to tell about a request, as in "I had him carry the bag for me." In order words, "I requested that he carry my bag."

A common mistake is using the infinitive⁴ verb form with make or have. You should not say, "I made my cat to do a trick." The correct sentence is "I made my cat do a trick." It is easy to get confused, because this sentence is very close to a correct sentence, "I taught my cat to do a trick." This is a case where you just have to remember that make and have, when used as causatives, act differently from other verbs.

How to use get

Finally, let's talk about get. The verb get is used in many ways, but as a causative, it means to persuade someone to do something they may not want to do. For example, "I got my son to clean his room." As a causative get works the same way as make and have The difference is, get is followed by an infinitive with to. Notice the infinitive to eat in this sentence, "We got the kids to eat the broccoli⁵."

While reporting about the new climate plan, a journalist wrote, "President Obama wants Americans to save energy and lower greenhouse gases. To do that he must get them to give up their SUVs." In other words, Obama must persuade Americans to stop driving SUVs.

Know your infinitives⁶

You might have noticed that with both make and have, the following verb is in the base form. There is no to. However, after the causative verb get, the following verb is in the infinitive with to. For example, "I got my boss to give me a raise."

We leave you with the British singer, Sam Brown, singing George Harrison's song, "Horse to Water." Here again we hear about the impossible. Anyone who has tried to make a horse drink knows the horse must want to drink.

You can take a horse to the water

but you can't make him drink

Oh no, oh no, oh no

You can have it all laid out in front

of you but it still don't make you think

Oh no, oh no, oh no

That's Everyday Grammar for today. Until next week, don't let causatives make you crazy.

Words in This Story

causative – adj. making something happen or exist : causing something

base form – n. the base form of a verb is the simplest form, without a special ending (or suffix). It's the form that appears in dictionary entries.

infinitive form – n. English the infinitive form of a verb is usually used with to (“I asked him to go”) except with modal verbs like should and could (“He should go”) and certain other verbs like see and hear (“I saw him go”).

persuade - v. to cause (someone) to do something by asking, arguing, or giving reasons

1 grammatical   

adj.语法的，符合语法规则的

参考例句：

• His composition is excellent except for some grammatical mistakes.他的作文写得很好，只有几处语法错误。
• He can barely form a grammatical sentence.他几乎造不出合乎语法的句子。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 compliment   

n.[pl.]问候，致意；n./v. 称赞，恭维

参考例句：

• The manager paid her a compliment on her work.经理赞扬了她的工作。
• Your presence is a great compliment.承蒙光临，不胜荣幸。

4 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。

5 broccoli   

n.绿菜花，花椰菜

参考例句：

• She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
• They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的，而菜花都是白色的。

6 infinitives   

n.（动词）不定式( infinitive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her litmus test for good breeding is whether you split infinitives. 她测试别人是否具有良好教养的标准是看对方是否在不定式的动词前加修饰副词。 来自互联网
• Nouns, adjectives and infinitives can be used as objective complements. 名词，形容词及不定式可用作补语。 来自互联网