had someone _____verb ?

simonwai99 · Post by **simonwai99** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:03 pm

Hi teachers
My teacher had all students ______( write ) a research paper.
what is the answer to this q ? thx

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:39 am

The answer is 'write': it is a causative construction, where 'had' means 'made' (in the sense 'forced/obliged').

googl · Post by **googl** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:11 am

Dear teacher,

Why we use in this causative construction the infinitive, not the past participle? I have sb./sth. do instead of I have sb./sth. done?

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:13 pm

They serve different purposes: 'have smb. do smth.' focuses on the person, while 'have smth. done' focuses simply on the action, without reference to its agent.