Friday, 3 April 2020

Friday morning - Follow up lesson on causative verbs

Hi everyone, 

 One of our classmates asked me to talk more about these verbs, "get", "have" , and "assist", and how they can be used to show causation.

 'get' is like 'ask'
"Could I get you to open the window?"
"I got my son to walk the dog."

 Subject + causative + object? + infinitive
I           + got           + my son + to walk   
I got my son to walk the dog.

 'have' is like 'get'
It is not used very often.
"We had Mr Wong speak to the class about the history of Chinatown."

 'assist' is used differently
"I can assist you when you organize the files for the students." 
I can assist you in organizing the files for the students."

 Questions? Comments?

 From fellow student:
Can I say this?
I can assist you to study English online. XXX

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
I can assist you when you study English online.
I can assist you if you want to study English online.
I can assist you in studying English online.
Posted by at

9 comments:

  1. Rose Wang3 April 2020 at 09:50

    Hi Al,
    Can I say
    I can assist you to study English online.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Al Haley3 April 2020 at 09:58

    I can assist you to study English online. XXX

    POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
    I can assist you when you study English online.
    I can assist you if you want to study English online.
    I can assist you in studying English online.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vicky Cao3 April 2020 at 20:23

    Hi Al，
    You mean we can not say "assist somebody to do something", right?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Al Haley4 April 2020 at 08:25

    You are right.

    INCORRECT
    "I can assist you to cook supper." XXX

    POSSIBLE CORRECTIONS
    "I can help you to cook supper.
    "I can assist you in cooking supper."
    "I can assist you when you cook supper."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous4 April 2020 at 21:40

    Hi Al,

    Thank you for your time and your attention.

    I also have a question about these formats:

    get / have + sb + doing s.th
    get / have + s.th + done

    Are that true as a causative verb?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Al Haley5 April 2020 at 07:41

      Those structures looks right. Write a few examples with these structures and show me.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5 April 2020 at 12:23

      Hi,
      For Example:
      1- I want to get my hair cut.
      2- I had my car fixed.
      3- I need to have someone fixing my car.
      4- I got my friend writing my homework.

      Actually, I need to know what deference is between them.

      Fedra (WR 5, 6, 7)

      Delete
    3. Al Haley6 April 2020 at 07:28

      1- I want to get my hair cut. GOOD
      2- I had my car fixed. GOOD - passive voice
      3- I need to have someone fixing my car. XXX fix
      4- I got my friend writing my homework. XXX to write

      Delete
  6. Al Haley5 April 2020 at 07:43

    Please leave your name when you write a comment. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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