“have something done”

One of the
ways we use the

One of the ways we use the passive
voice is to talk about an action without saying who did it.

Click Here for Step-by-Step Rules, Stories and Exercises to Practice All English Tenses

For
example, we can see this person relaxing because someone else is taking
care of his problems!
How can
we express this meaning with the passive voice?

There is a special passive construction with have:

(the object) +
past
participle

example:

I

have

my business

taken care

of.

(Somebody is taking care of my business.)

another
example:

He

has

his dog

walked

.

(Somebody walks his dog.)

In this construction, like in all passive sentences, we need to use the

Remember that for regular verbs,
this is the same as the

However, for

Be sure to review them and use the correct form of the verb
in
passive constructions.

In this construction, like in all passive sentences, we need to use the past participle Remember that for regular verbs, this is the same as the simple past However, for irregular verbs , the past participle can be different!Be sure to review them and use the correct form of the verb in passive constructions.

We can use this construction in the following
cases:

1. We make someone else do something for us, or we pay someone
   else to
   do something for us.

2. Something negative happens and we have no control over it
   (something
   bad happens to us).

First, let’s talk about when someone else does something that we ask of
them.

Example:

• Jeremy’s car is in terrible condition! He is going to

  have his car fixed

  .
  He hopes it won’t be too expensive!

This means that Jeremy will not do the work himself. He will pay a
professional mechanic to do the work for him. He will

have the work done

to his car.

More examples:

• The living room in Terry’s new house is a terrible
  salmon pink color. She wants to 

  have it painted

  before she moves in.

• Lizzy can’t talk right now. She’s

  having her hair cut

  by the barber at the moment.

• I need to go to the dentist today to

  have a tooth pulled

  .
  I hope it’s very fast!

• Will you

  have
  your party catered

  , or are you going to cook all the food
  yourself?

• Emily

  had
  her dress sewn

  by a professional seamstress. She wanted it
  to look perfect for her special day!

We can use this construction in any of the

have

depending on
the verb tense we are using. The rest of the construction (object +
past participle) remains exactly the same.

Now, let’s look at the second meaning of

have + object + past participle

.

We can also use this construction when something negative happens to us
when we don’t expect it or want it.

Example

:

• The homeowner

  had
  all his money stolen

  ! The police still haven’t caught the
  mysterious robber.

The owner of the money did not want it to be stolen. This was a
negative experience that this person suffered.

More examples:

• The children are all upset because they

  had their toys taken

  away. They wanted to keep playing!

• The event was supposed to be outside, but look at all this
  rain! The organizer, Ms. Huffington, is terribly upset because she’s

  had her big event ruined

  .

• Bruno is still not back at work. He says he’s

  had his heart broken

  !
  It’s so terrible that he’s going through that divorce.

• Phil doesn’t want to come back to class. He

  had his feelings hurt

  last week, and he just isn’t enthusiastic about the subject anymore.

Poor Phil! He suffered a negative experience that he did not expect! He
certainly didn’t want to be teased!

These constructions can seem confusing at first, but with practice,
you’ll feel comfortable with them. If you’re still not sure how to use
the passive voice, look at

The owner of the money did not want it to be stolen. This was a negative experience that this person suffered.Poor Phil! He suffered a negative experience that he did not expect! He certainly didn’t want to be teased!These constructions can seem confusing at first, but with practice, you’ll feel comfortable with them. If you’re still not sure how to use the passive voice, look at more
examples . And keep on practicing!

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For example, we can see this person relaxing because someone else is taking care of his problems! How can we express this meaning with the passive voice?There is a special passive construction with have:First, let’s talk about when someone else does something that we ask of them.This means that Jeremy will not do the work himself. He will pay a professional mechanic to do the work for him. He willto his car.We can use this construction in any of the English
verb tenses . All we need to do is use the correct form ofdepending on the verb tense we are using. The rest of the construction (object + past participle) remains exactly the same.Now, let’s look at the second meaning ofWe can also use this construction when something negative happens to us when we don’t expect it or want it.