Causative Structures: "have" and "get"

Causative structures in English are used to express that a person does not perform an action themselves, but instead arranges for, asks, or pays someone else to do it. The most common causative verbs are have and get. While they are similar, have usually focuses on the arrangement (often professional), while get implies persuading or convincing someone.

There are two main patterns: active and passive. The passive causative pattern is subject + have/get + object + past participle (e.g., I had my hair cut). The active causative pattern differs between the two verbs: have + person + infinitive (e.g., I had the mechanic fix my car), whereas get + person + to + infinitive (e.g., I got the mechanic to fix my car).

Learners commonly make mistakes by using active sentence structures for professional services (e.g., saying I cut my hair yesterday when they actually paid a hairdresser, instead of the correct I had my hair cut). Another error is omitting the particle to in the active causative with get (e.g., writing I got him wash my car instead of I got him to wash my car).