1. Paco decides to have his hair dyed

The causative have (or also have / get something done) is an unusual structure in Spanish but not in English. We use causative have when arranging for someone to do something for us . If we say in Spanish I cut my hair yesterday we mean that somebody cut the hair for me and not myself. However, in English we should use the causative have structure: I had my hair cut yesterday, which implies that I went to the hairdresser and he or she cut my hair.
But it is not too difficult to learn the causative have. Just pay attention to this section and you will learn it easily.

 

Icono IDevice Reading Comprehension: Research activity
Paco and the Lost Generation
After having visited New York, Washington D.C. and Miami, Paco goes northward again in the States: Chicago. This is another interesting city Paco had in mind to visit.
He knew that many relevant literary figures were related to Chicago. He had read at University a short story by Hemingway (born in Oak Park, Illinois) and had also known about John Dos Passos, the author of Manhattan Transfer. Dos Passos, born in Chicago in 1896, was another outstanding writer who belonged to the so-called Literary Lost Generation, together with John Steinbeck, Scott Fitzgerald and other writers. Paco knew a lot about them because many of their novels had been turned into films, like Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Steinbeck's East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath.

 

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896-1940) John Steinbeck (middle) with 19 year-old son John, visits President Johnson in the Oval Office, May 16, 1966.
By Lloyd Arnold. Public domain. By Floriang. Public domain. By U.S federal government. Public domain.

Paco wanted to visit the places he had seen on some postcards in a newsagent's: the Chicago Theatre, the Willis Tower, the University of Chicago, the skyline, the Navy Pier, the Field Museum and Crown Fountain in Millennium Park. As usual, he bought the Chicago Tribune and decided to have his hair cut. But while he was waiting at the hairdresser's, he thought that he had never got his hair dyed, so ..., why not do it now?

Panoramic view of Chicago at dawn.
By AllyUnion. GNU free documentation license.

QUESTIONS ON GRAMMAR:

1) Find in the text the name of a place where you can buy newspapers, postcards, books, etc.

2) Find in the text the name of a place where you can have your hair washed, cut, dyed, etc

3) In the sentence Paco had decided to have his hair cut, do you think he is going to cut his hair by himself or somebody is going to cut his hair?

 

QUESTIONS ON WRITERS:

1) When was Ernest Hemingway awarded with the Nobel Prize for literature?

2) Did Hemingway take part in any European war as a journalist?

3) What's the title of Dos Passos' novel about life in New York city, which was a commercial success and introduced experimental stream-of-consciousness?

4) Mention the three novels of Dos Passos' major work about U.S.A. trilogy.

5) What is Fitzgerald's most famous and celebrated novel?

6) What was Fitzgerald's posthumously published novel?



Answer the questions above about the three writers' lives and work.
You have to click on the author names' links and look for the information required.

 



Icono de iDevice Solved exercise 1

Paco would have liked to be a writer. Obviously not everyone can be a writer. Let's have a look at some other jobs.

 

1. optician A. have your car repaired
2. veterinary surgeon
 B. have your blood pressure taken
3. mechanic C. have your hair cut 
4. doctor D. have your  eyes tested
5. hairdresser E. have your dogs vaccinated
Match a profession from 1 to 5 with something that you have done by that person or in that place.

Icono de iDevice Solved exercise 2: causative have

1. The mechanic changed the oil in my car.

2. My husband paints our house every year.

3: The hairdresser has dyed Paco's hair.

4. The doctor takes my father's blood pressure everyday.

5. William, the veterinary surgeon in my area, is going to check my dog's stomach.

 

Rewrite these sentences using have or get.

Icono de iDevice Reflexión
Have something done and Get something done are both used to refer to actions which are done for the subject rather than by the subject.
 A mechanic in a garage in 1959.
By Seattle M. A. Creative Commons. 
 
Icono de IDevice de pregunta Self-Assessment activity
Complete the sentences using have / get something done in the correct form tense:

1) My sister is going _______________ at the new hairdresser's.
  
a) to have her hair cut.
b) to cut her hair.

2) I __________ by my little brother yesterday.
  
a) had washed my car
b) had my car washed

3) Will Peter _______________?
  
a) have his guitar tuned?
b) had his guitar tuned?

Icono IDevice Curiosity
Basketball: Chicago Bulls
As you know Paco is very fond of sports. He loves basketball and he loves the Chigago Bulls.
Have you ever heard of the Chicago Bulls? Have you ever heard the name of Michael Jordan? Sure you have.

Luol Deng takes a shot in a game against the Knicks
By Gavindow. GNU license.
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center. The team is well known for having one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history during the 1990s, winning six championships in 8 years with two three-peats. All six of those championship teams were led by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson.
Jordan going in for a dunk
By Lipofsky. GNU license.
The first three championship teams included the likes of Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, John Paxson and B.J. Armstrong, while the latter three championship teams had Luc Longley, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, Toni Kukoč and Dennis Rodman on the roster. The Bulls won an NBA record 72 games during the 1995–96 NBA season and are the only team in NBA history to win at least 70 games in a single season. During the 1990s, the Bulls helped spread the popularity of the NBA around the world. The 1998 NBA Finals, the Bulls' most recent championship appearance, was the most watched championship series in NBA history.
Taken from Wikipedia.

Icono IDevice Important

The difference between have and get something done is that have is a bit more formal than get.

Have your car repaired soon if you don't want to ...

The verb get is more usual than have in the imperative form.

Get your hair cut now!

Watch this video to see more examples of the causative have structure.

 

 


Icono IDevice Writing activity
By e walk. Creative Commons.

 

Imagine that you become rich and could have all kinds of things done for you. Make up five sentences using the causative have, for example, you could say:






Icono IDevice Further knowledge
A very useful website to learn a lot about the causative have structure with extra links included.

If you consider that you need further practice, here you have some exercises:

Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercise 5
 Exercise 6

A good way to learn English is to watch movies in the English language or even with subtitles in English. This helps you a lot with your understanding of the language. Here you can watch the trailers for Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

Why don't you see if you can watch some movies in English? 




For Whom the Bell Tolls
 The Great Gatsby
 The Grapes of Wrath

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