🔄 Grammar · Passive & Causative
Make, Let & Be Made To
Force, permission and the passive twist — three small structures that trip up even confident learners, sorted for good.
Grammar › Passive & Causative › Make, Let & Be Made To
The rule in one sentenceUse make + object + base verb for force and let + object + base verb for permission — but flip either into the passive and “made” suddenly needs a to in front of the verb, while “let” simply disappears in favour of “be allowed to”.
Force, permission and their passive twin
“Make” and “let” both describe one person controlling another person’s actions, but in opposite directions. Make means force or obligation: The director made the actors rehearse for six months before filming Les Misérables. Let means permission: Christopher Guest let the young cast improvise several of their own lines in Best in Show. In both cases, the second verb stays in its bare, to-less form — rehearse, not to rehearse; improvise, not to improvise.
Now put the person being controlled into subject position, and the grammar changes. The active made the actors rehearse becomes the passive the actors were made to rehearse — and a “to” appears out of nowhere. This is the single trickiest fact in the whole topic: make loses its bare infinitive the moment it goes passive. “Let” behaves differently again — there is no natural passive with “let”; English switches to be allowed to instead.
🎬 Compare: “The studio made the crew of The Darjeeling Limited shoot for months entirely on a moving train, much like the demanding location work behind About Elly” (active — no “to”) vs. “The crew of The Darjeeling Limited was made to shoot for months entirely on a moving train, much like the demanding location work behind About Elly” (passive — “to” appears).
Same fact, same actor, but the passive version needs that extra word before the verb.
A third, gentler option sits between force and permission: get someone to do something, which suggests persuasion rather than command. The producers got the cast of French Dispatch to learn French phrases phonetically for several scenes feels softer than made — it implies she agreed, even if reluctantly, rather than being ordered.
How to build it
Make (active — force)
The director of Les Misérables made the actors rehearse for six months.
The director of Les Misérables didn’t make them wear costumes during rehearsals.
Did the director make Anne Hathaway cut her hair for real in Les Misérables?
Let (active — permission)
Mike Leigh let the cast improvise their characters through months of rehearsal for Secrets & Lies.
The studio didn’t let Terry Gilliam release his original cut of Brazil in cinemas.
Did the director let the lead actor choose his own wardrobe for Bottle Rocket?
Be made to (passive)
The actors were made to rehearse the big musical numbers before filming Guys and Dolls.
Anne Hathaway wasn’t made to lip-sync — she insisted on singing live for Les Misérables.
Was Zac Efron made to lose weight for The Iron Claw?
When to use which
Active: make & let
- You know who’s in control: The director made the cast train for months before 300.
- The controller is the subject of the sentence: Taika Waititi let his cast improvise freely on set for Thor: Ragnarok.
- Everyday, conversational storytelling: The director made the young lead rehearse extensively for the market scenes in The White Balloon.
Passive: be made to
- The person controlled is the focus, not the controller: Matthew McConaughey was made to lose weight twice for two different roles.
- The controller is unknown, obvious or unimportant: The cast were made to sign strict confidentiality agreements before Alien: Romulus.
- Formal or journalistic film writing: Several actors have been made to undergo intense physical training for Marvel roles.
Signal words & phrases
These words and phrases point straight to this grammar point.
Force & permission verbs
Visual guide
Teacher Teddy’s illustrated guide to this rule is being drawn — the full swipe-through infographic will appear here soon.
Common mistakes
❌ The director of Black Swan made the actors to rehearse for months.
✅ The director of Black Swan made the actors rehearse for months.
Active “make” is always followed by the bare infinitive — no “to” appears until the sentence becomes passive.
❌ The studio didn’t let the director of Asteroid City to release the extended cut.
✅ The studio didn’t let the director of Asteroid City release the extended cut.
“Let” follows the same no-“to” rule as active “make” — it never takes an infinitive with “to”.
❌ The actors in Les Misérables were made rehearse for six months.
✅ The actors in Les Misérables were made to rehearse for six months.
The passive of “make” needs “to” — it’s the opposite rule from the active form, which is exactly why learners mix it up.
❌ Chris Hemsworth was let choose his own trainer for Thor.
✅ Chris Hemsworth was allowed to choose his own trainer for Thor.
“Let” simply has no passive form — English switches to “be allowed to” instead of “was let to”.
Exceptions & tricky cases
1. “Make” also means “create” — context decides the meaning. Only the causative sense follows this grammar.
✅ A director made Au Revoir les Enfants. (create — a completely different use) vs. The director made the crew work in near-total secrecy. (causative — force)
2. “Get someone to do something” softens the force. It’s a common, more polite alternative to “make” when persuasion, not command, is involved.
✅ The producers got Renée Zellweger to gain weight for Bridget Jones’s Diary — note “get” does take “to”, unlike “make”.
3. “Help” can go either way, active or with “to”. Unlike make and let, “help” is flexible.
✅ The stunt team helped Michael B. Jordan train for the Creed boxing scenes. ✅ …helped Michael B. Jordan to train… Both are correct.
4. Feelings, not commands, use different verbs. “Make someone feel” a certain way is common but is about emotion, not obligation, and still keeps the bare infinitive.
✅ The gentle score makes audiences feel deep warmth for the two siblings in Children of Heaven.
Practice: make, let or be made to?
Eight questions on force, permission and the passive twist.
1. Judd Apatow ___ the young cast improvise several lines in Superbad.
“Let” never takes “to” before the base verb.
2. The director ___ the actors rehearse for six months before filming Les Misérables.
Active “make” takes the bare infinitive — no “to”.
3. Jake Gyllenhaal ___ to lose over twenty kilograms for Southpaw.
Passive “be made to” needs “was/were made”, with the actor as subject.
4. The studio didn’t ___ Richard Donner release the original cut of Superman II.
Permission, not force — “let” is correct here.
5. Anne Hathaway ___ to sing live on set for Les Misérables, rather than lip-sync.
The actor is the subject and the focus — passive “was made to” fits.
6. The director ___ the lead actor choose his own wardrobe for Bottle Rocket.
Active permission with the director as the subject: “let” + object + base verb.
7. The cast ___ attend months of dialect coaching before filming Gangs of New York.
Passive causative needs “to” before the verb.
8. ___ the director ___ the actors improvise during filming of Anchorman?
After “did”, the main verb “make” stays in its base form.
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