🔄 Grammar · Passive & Causative
Causatives: Have/Get Something Done
Learn how to say that someone else did the job for you — from haircuts to Hollywood visual effects — and practise until it’s automatic.
Grammar › Passive & Causative › Causatives: Have/Get Something Done
The rule in one sentenceUse have/get + object + past participle to say that someone else did a job for you — Peter Jackson had the Hobbiton set built, he didn’t build it himself.
What’s the difference?
The causative structure lets you talk about arranging for a professional to do something, without naming who they are or how they did it. Peter Jackson didn’t personally hammer together the hobbit-holes of Hobbiton in New Zealand — a specialist construction crew did — so English needs a way to keep Jackson as the subject of the sentence while making clear someone else performed the physical work: Peter Jackson had the Hobbiton set built by a professional crew, and it’s still standing today as a tourist attraction.
Compare that with the plain active voice, which would wrongly suggest Jackson did the building himself: Peter Jackson built the set sounds like he personally laid bricks. The causative fixes that by inserting have (or the more informal get) before the object and putting the action in the past participle: had…built, not built.
🎬 Compare: “Duncan Jones built detailed miniature sets for Moon” (implies he personally built them, which is unlikely) vs. “Duncan Jones had detailed miniature sets built at Shepperton Studios for the 2009 film” (he arranged and paid for it — the natural, accurate way to describe this in English).
The causative shifts the focus from the physical work to the decision and the result.
Get works the same way as have but feels more informal, and sometimes hints at extra effort or persuasion: Sharlto Copley got prosthetic make-up applied to play the transforming Wikus in District 9. There’s also a second, very different use of this same pattern: when something — often unfortunate — happens to you rather than being arranged by you. During filming, Howard Hawks often got his shooting schedule extended as he rewrote dialogue on set — nobody planned those delays, but the grammar is identical.
How to build it
Have/get something done
Peter Jackson had the Hobbiton set built by a specialist crew.
The White Ribbon didn’t have its footage shot in black-and-white — the colour images were converted afterward.
didn’t have + object + past participleDid Danny Boyle have a replica canyon built in a studio for 127 Hours, instead of filming entirely on location?
Did + subject + have + object + past participleHave vs get
Marvel Studios had the visual effects completed by Industrial Light & Magic.
have — neutral, slightly more formal, common in writingAndy Serkis got his movements captured with motion-capture technology to play Gollum.
get — informal, common in speechCity Lights got its budget increased due to repeated reshoots.
get — something happens to you, unarrangedWhen to use which
Arranging something (you pay or ask someone)
- Sets and props: Peter Jackson had the Hobbiton set built in New Zealand.
- Practical effects: Duncan Jones had detailed miniature sets built at Shepperton Studios rather than relying only on CGI.
- Costumes and make-up: Sharlto Copley had prosthetic make-up applied for District 9.
- Outsourced work: Marvel Studios has its visual effects completed by companies including Industrial Light & Magic.
Something happens to you (unarranged, often unfortunate)
- Unexpected delays: Howard Hawks got his shooting schedule extended during his repeated on-set rewrites.
- Injuries during production: Harrison Ford had his leg injured by a hydraulic door on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
- The pattern stays identical to the arranged meaning — only context tells you whether it was planned or not.
Quick test
Ask yourself: did the subject perform the action personally, or did someone else do the physical work? If someone else did it — a crew, a make-up artist, a stunt coordinator, an effects studio — use have/get + object + past participle. If the subject did it with their own hands, use the plain active voice instead.
Visual guide
Teacher Teddy’s illustrated guide to this rule is being drawn — the full swipe-through infographic will appear here soon.
Common mistakes
❌ Sharlto Copley applied prosthetic make-up for District 9.
✅ Sharlto Copley had prosthetic make-up applied for District 9.
He didn’t personally apply the make-up — a specialist artist did, so the causative form is needed.
❌ Duncan Jones had built miniature sets for Moon.
✅ Duncan Jones had miniature sets built for Moon.
Word order matters: the object goes straight after have/get, then the past participle comes last.
❌ Did Boyle had a replica canyon built for 127 Hours?
✅ Did Boyle have a replica canyon built for 127 Hours?
Questions use do/does/did + the base form “have” — never “had” twice in the same clause.
❌ Howard Hawks got extended his shooting schedule during his on-set rewrites.
✅ Howard Hawks got his shooting schedule extended during his on-set rewrites.
The object must sit between get and the past participle, not after it.
Exceptions & tricky cases
Four patterns worth knowing once the basic have/get + object + past participle rule feels comfortable.
1. Omitting the agent. You usually leave out “by + person”, because who exactly did the job often isn’t important: Peter Jackson had the Hobbiton set built is complete on its own — you only add “by a specialist crew” when it matters to the sentence.
2. “Get” + object + to-infinitive is a different pattern. “Get” can also mean “persuade”, followed by to + base verb, not a past participle: Spike Jonze got the studio to approve extra rehearsal time with the puppeteers for Being John Malkovich. Don’t confuse this with “get something done”, which arranges a job rather than persuading a person.
3. Present continuous for ongoing arrangements. “Having something done” can describe a plan in progress, not just a finished result: Studios are increasingly having classic films restored for cinema re-releases, like Little Miss Sunshine’s 20th-anniversary rerelease.
4. Causative vs plain passive. Compare “The visual effects were completed by Industrial Light & Magic” (plain passive, focus on the effects themselves) with “Marvel Studios had the visual effects completed by Industrial Light & Magic” (causative, focus on the studio’s decision to hire them).
Practice: choose the right form
Eight quick questions about real film production. Pick the answer you’d actually use — you get the explanation either way.
1. Peter Jackson ___ the Hobbiton set built by a specialist construction crew in New Zealand.
“Had…built” is the causative form — he arranged it, he didn’t build it himself.
2. Sharlto Copley ___ prosthetic make-up applied to play the transforming Wikus in District 9.
He didn’t apply the make-up himself — a specialist artist did, so the causative form is needed.
3. ___ Boyle have a replica canyon built for 127 Hours, or was it CGI?
Causative “have” uses do/does/did in questions, never “had” on its own.
4. City Lights ___ its budget increased during repeated reshoots of one scene.
“Got + object + past participle” describes something unplanned that happened during production.
5. Duncan Jones ___ detailed miniature sets built at Shepperton Studios for the 2009 film.
He arranged for a team to build it — the causative “had…built” is needed, not “built” alone.
6. Marvel Studios ___ the visual effects completed by Industrial Light & Magic.
Causative “have” is the correct verb before “the visual effects completed”.
7. Andy Serkis ___ his movements captured with motion-capture technology to become Gollum.
“Got + object + past participle” is the informal causative pattern here.
8. Studios are increasingly ___ classic films restored for cinema re-releases, like Little Miss Sunshine’s 20th-anniversary rerelease.
“Having something done” describes an ongoing arrangement with someone else doing the work.
Keep going
Related lessons in Passive & Causative:
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