Causative use of have / get something done have / get something done

CAUSATIVE USE OF HAVE / GET

HAVE / GET SOMETHING DONE

HAVE / GET SOMETHING DONE

• The structure have something done is used to describe a service performed for us by someone else. Compare these two sentences:
• Sue is cutting her hair (Sue is doing it herself)
• Sue is having her hair cut, that is, The hairdresser is cutting Sue’s hair (She has arranged for someone else to do it).

HAVE + OBJECT + PAST PARTICIPLE

-The word order is very important:

HAVE + OBJECT + PAST PARTICIPLE:

• Jill had the roof fixed yesterday.
• Where did you have your hair permed?
• We are having the house painted at the moment.
• Tom has just had his tooth taken out.
• I’m going to have my hair trimmed tomorrow.
• Why don’t you have that dress dry-cleaned?
• We had the car delivered to the airport.

GET SOMETHING DONE

• Get something done is possible instead of have something done. It is used mainly in informal spoken English and suggests more activity or effort.
• Get is common when there is a feeling that something must be done:
• I must go to the garage and get the car serviced.

GET SOMETHING DONE

• It is also common in orders and imperatives: Get your hair cut!
• There is a feeling of eventually managing something in some uses: I eventually got the car fixed / She always gets things done in this office.

Have / get something done: Other meanings

• Sue had her car stolen while she was on holiday: This doesn’t mean that Sue arranged for someone to steal her car. It means that Sue’s car was stolen. So as we can see, with this meaning, we use have / get something done to say that something (often something unpleasant) happened to someone:
• George had his nose broken in a fight.
• My arms got badly burned in the sun.