Mr. K's Grammar World: help

Monday, September 2, 2013

The Devil Made Me Do It: Causative Verbs (Part III - Passive Voice)

I feel sorry for the passive voice. The feeling of many English teachers toward the passive voice is almost racist. (Grammarist?) Unfortunately, parents don’t always understand their own prejudices. There are parents who won’t allow their children to marry the person they love just because they are of a different racial or religious background. A parent might not allow their child to go to a sleepover at their best friend’s house because that friend has two daddies. Fortunately, the children usually see the error of these decisions and grow up to see people just as people and understand how wrong their parents were.

Well, this is the case with the passive voice. For years, English teachers have been telling their students “Don’t use the passive voice. It’s not good.” Well, I’m here to say it loud and say it proud. I LOVE THE PASSIVE VOICE! I don’t care who knows it. (You can read my love letter to the passive voice in another blog entry.) I bring this up because the passive voice is commonly used with causative verbs.

The Causative Passive

In Part I of the Causative Verbs series, I cautioned against overusing causative verbs. They should only be used when the decision maker, the person giving the order or giving permission, is important.

Just as children get more responsibilities and privileges as they grow older, language students can use more “grown-up” patterns in their speech as their English gets more sophisticated. (No parent would allow a three-year-old to run with scissors or wield a sharp knife. Similarly, as a language teacher, I don’t allow students to use certain grammar before they are ready. To my low intermediate students: “Don’t use the past perfect (had done). You’re just going to hurt yourselves.")

So, how do you make the passive voice with causative verbs? Since there are two verbs in all causative statements, there are two ways to make the passive voice. (To see diagrams that illustrate these patterns, click here.) Look at the following causative sentence.

The school allows students to wear shorts and slippers* at school.

Because the word students automatically refers to school and we don’t know exactly who made this rule (and because the word school is being used twice in this sentence) the subject school is unnecessary. To get rid of it, follow the basic rules of passive transformation. Move the object students** to the subject position and change the verb by adding the correct form of the “be” verb and changing the main verb to the past participle, which leaves you with:

Students are allowed to wear shorts and slippers at school.

Notice that nothing has changed in the infinitive phrase. In the immortal words of MC Hammer, “You can’t touch this.” Now, look at a more specific situation.

Mid-Pacific Institute allows students to wear shorts and slippers at school.

Now you have a specific subject, the name of a specific school. Therefore, if you change this to the passive voice, you must keep Mid-Pacific Institute. With causative verbs, you can’t just add a prepositional phrase with by at the end. It really seems weird. (Students are allowed by the school.) My reaction to this statement: "Eeeeewwwww." This brings us to the second passive pattern for causative verbs.

Although students SEEMS to be the object of the causative verb, the object is really the entire infinitive phrase. (For the real grammar geeks out there, go on to Part V for an explanation.) Therefore, students is the subject of the infinitive phrase and to wear is like the main verb. Look at the following examples.

MPI allows students to wear shorts and slippers at school.
MPI allows shorts and slippers to be worn at school.

This time, nothing about the subject and verb of the main clause changes. All the changes happen in the infinitive phrase. The object shorts and slippers becomes the new subject and the infinitive changes to its passive form by adding “be” and changing wear to worn. Notice that students has been eliminated. (If you want to keep students in the sentence, don’t use this pattern.)

There are two causative verbs, however, that can’t (or at least shouldn’t) be used in the passive voice: make and let.

XXX I was made to stay after school. XXX
XXX I was let to go to the movies with my friends. XXX

Again, my reaction to both of these sentences is “Eeeeeeeeewwwwww.” The first sentence, with make, is not horribly terrible and is grammatically correct. It is, however, very formal and probably not a good choice for everyday English. The second one, with let, on the other hand, is just plain awful. Don’t even think about it.

Alas, nothing can ever be this simple in English. There is, of course, an exception to these rules, a third passive voice pattern for the causative verbs have and get.

The first pattern, changing the subject and verb of the main clause, doesn’t work. For example:

I had my son mow the grass.
XXX My son was had to mow the grass. XXX

Not now, not ever is this passive construction acceptable. Don’t even go there. Forget you ever saw this monstrosity of a sentence. So, how do you make the passive structure?

Like Pattern 2, the passive change happens in the bare infinitive phrase, the object of have. Look at these examples.

We had a professional photographer take our family portrait.
We had our family portrait taken (by a professional photographer).

The only real difference between other causative verbs and have and get is that the “be” verb is not used (to be taken) as it would be with the others.

Masa wouldn’t allow people to take his picture.
We had a photographer take lots of pictures at our wedding.

Masa wouldn’t allow his picture to be taken.
We had lots of pictures taken at our wedding.

This can be confusing at first, but with time and practice, it’s not so bad. To help you practice, I have made a series of exercises and posted them on my web site Mr. K’s Grammar World.

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*Slippers, also known as slippahs, is the local way in Hawaii to describe that wonderful footwear that people on the Mainland refer to as flip-flops.

**In reality, the entire infinitive phrase students to wear... is the object and students is really the subject of the infinitive phrase.

(I really appreciate questions, comments and suggestions. Feel free to post them in the Comments section below. However, I don't often see them right away. Instead, you can use the Questions and Comments link below or join my Facebook group Mr. K's Grammar World.)

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The Devil Made Me Do It: Causative Verbs (Part II - Other Causative Verbs)

Make, let, allow and require are probably the most common causative verbs. There are, however, several others that are useful. Like so many other groups of similar words in English, knowing the subtle differences between words can be tricky, but also very important.

Have, Get and Ask

Two causative verbs that are similar to make or require are have and get. However, unlike make or require, which often mean someone is unhappy, have and get are fairly neutral.

Have is used in the pattern have someone do something, which requires the bare infinitive. (Don’t add to.) To see the difference, look at the following examples.

I made my son carry our bags to our hotel room.
I had the bellman take our bags to our hotel room.

In the first sentence, no doubt my son is grumbling under his breath. “How come I have to do all the work. Why cant HE carry his own stupid bags?” (Son. You need to understand that your job is to do all the stuff that I don’t want to do. That’s why we didn’t sell you to the circus years ago. When you have your own children, you’ll understand.)

The bellman, on the other hand, happily (I hope) takes us to our room. Why? Because it’s his JOB. I’m not asking him to do anything unusual. (And he’s expecting a tip.) Have is used to describe actions that are part of everyday life and usually there is some sort of payment involved. Look at the next pair of example sentences.

I made a student stay after school to finish his homework.
I have my students do homework two or three times a week.

In the first sentence, this is a punishment. The student didn’t finish their homework on time, so now they are suffering the consequences and are not happy about it. On the other hand, homework in general is a regular part of the academic process. It’s the students’ JOB. Their reward is an education (and a good grade). Have is most commonly used by a boss or a customer asking for service but is also commonly used to describe teachers and students and parents and children for things like chores. (Contrary to popular belief among youth, having your children wash the dishes and vacuum the living room is not child abuse.)

Get is very similar to have, with a couple of differences. First, the pattern is get someone to do something (with the full infinitive). Second, it is informal and conversational, and not as good as have when money is involved.

Get is usually used to describe favors between friends and acquaintances. I would use this to describe friends who helped us move, or a student who erased the whiteboard for me after class.

I got a friend to help me bring our new sofa into the house.
I got a student to go to the school store to get me some new markers.

They are doing me favors. All my friend needs in return is a couple of slices of pizza. And when my friend needs help with something, I’ll be there. The student is just being nice (or desperately needs to get out of my boring class).

With both have and get, the reason I get the help is because I asked. (With the exception of my son carrying the bags, which was simply a statement. “Boy! Carry the bags.”)

Could you take our bags to our room, please?”
Could you give me a hand with my new sofa on Saturday?
Would someone go to the school store and get some new whiteboard pens, please?

The basic pattern is ask someone to do something with the full infinitive. It can be used in place of have or get and is a little more polite. Ask is good to use with friends and children to parents. Ask is friendly, but polite.

Cause vs. Make

Another useful causative verb is the (obvious?) cause and is quite similar to make, which was discussed in the previous blog, though there are three differences to keep in mind. First, they have different patterns. You can make someone do something or make something happen, both with bare infinitives (without to). For example:

The coach made the players run five miles.
The strong wind made the windows shake.

Cause, on the other hand, requires the full infinitive (with to), as in:

The dust in the air caused me to sneeze.
The strong wind caused the windows to shake.

This also illustrates the two other differences. Make is much more informal and conversational. Cause is much better for formal situations. Also, and more importantly, make is used when a person has control or authority. Cause is used to simply describe an action and reaction. Therefore, the following sentence is incorrect.

The coach caused the players to run five miles.
The coach made the players run five miles.

The coach has authority over the players. The coach ordered them to do this. The players had to run. The wind did not order the windows to shake. It just happened.

Encourage and Help

As any parent knows, you can’t make your children do everything. For many things, they have to make their own decisions. My oldest son will be graduating from high school in June 2014 and then he’s off to college. The decision of what college to attend is his. However, I can give him advice. I can encourage him in one direction or another.

Encourage is used to show a suggestion and is very similar to the helping verb should. However, the other person must make the final choice. The basic pattern is encourage someone to do something, with a full infinitive. For example:

I think my son should try out for the swim team.
I will encourage my son to try out for the swim team.

While encourage is more passive (I’m standing on the side watching my son), help is another causative verb that is more active. When you help someone, you participate in the activity, but the final product is theirs.

Skyler helped his mother make dinner.
Kai helped me to wash the car.

The chef of the meal is Skyler’s mother. The person responsible for the cleanliness of the my car is me.

Among this group of causative verbs, help is unique. While all of the others are limited to one strict pattern, either with a full infinitive or a bare infinitive, help can be followed by either.

A student helped the teacher straighten up the desks after class.
A student helped the teacher to straighten up the desks after class.

Both are considered correct, but the first one (without to) is probably most common in American English and the one that I find myself using most often.

Force

The last causative verb I would like to discuss is also the strongest. Force is used in extreme situations, situations that could end in injury or death – a threat that violence, possibly with a weapon, might be used. Force is used to show that there was no other choice, no matter how difficult the decision was or how much trouble was caused by the decision. For example:

The armed bank robber forced everyone in the bank to lie on the floor.
The heavy snow forced officials to close the airport.

In the first example, everyone lies on the floor because the robber has a gun. If they don’t, they might get shot and killed. In the second example, closing an airport is an extreme decision that will affect thousands of people, but it has to be done to keep everyone safe. They don’t want to do it, but they have no choice.

As you can see from the examples, the basic pattern is force someone to do something with a full infinitive.

Learning the basic patterns (with or without to) is fairly easy and can be done with a little bit of practice. However, knowing when to use a causative verb and which one is best is the ultimate goal for language learners.
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