Could someone tell me the difference between “have sb doing sth” and “have sb to do sth”?
ex. 1. I have the family chauffeur drive me to school.
2. I have the family chauffeur to drive me to school.
And also:
ex. 1. They made the systems produce new sounds.
2. They made the systems to produce new sounds.
You earliest reply will be greatly appreciated!!
Song
Hi,
Let’s get this construction clear. ‘Have someone do something’ suggests that you don’t do it yourself but you pay/ask someone to do something for you. For this use you need the infinitive without the preposition ‘to’. If you use the ‘ing’ form, you suggest that the activity is continuing. Again ‘make someone do something’ again has no preposition ‘to’ and suggests that you are telling someone to do something and there is no choice here.
Alan
Hi Alan,
Thanks very much for your reply!
But seems that I didn’t express myself clearly.
Actually I’d like to know what’s the difference between " have sb. do sth."(bare-infinitive) and " have sb. to do sth."(to-infinitive).
ex. 1. I have the family chauffeur drive me to school. - Does it mean that whenever I wanna go to school, the family chauffeur will drive me there.
ex. 1. They made the systems produce new sounds. - Can I suppose that they actually did it.
Thanks!
Song
Hi, Bebechinois
During reading your post, I recalled some sentence, very popular form:
He made me cry. - Saying that way I express my convince that ‘He’ did something that had led me to tears.
In case of the difference between the sentences with ‘family chauffeur’ I’d prefer the first one: “I have the family chauffeur drive me to school”. Expressing this way I mean that my family (so, me and other members of my family) have employed a chauffeur, who drives us wherever we need, including driving me to school.
The second one with ‘to’ is not very clear for me. I’d write rather:
[color=blue]I have the family chauffeur for driving me to school
Best wishes 
Hi Bebechinois,
The point I wanted to make is that you don’t use the preposition ‘to’ with this construction. It is simply: You have someone do something for you’ - there is no ‘to’.
Alan
Hello Song,
Sentence 1 suggests that you regularly ask/tell the family chauffeur to drive you to school. “Have sb. do sth” is a commonly used format.
Basically, yes. The addition of the word “to” suggests that the family chauffeur is available to you – an available option. You can ask the family chauffeur to drive you to school if needed or desired. “Have sb. to do sth” refers only to the availability of an option. You have someone available for a particular purpose. There is another example of this sort of wording here: Idiom “Have someone to sound off to”
Yes, this basically means that the system made new sounds and they caused that to happen.
They made the system [color=blue]in order to produce new sounds. With the addition of the word “to”, the sentence basically tells you the reason they made the system.
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
— Abraham Lincoln
Hi Alan, Lea and Esl Expert,
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate your helps!
And Mr. Esl Expert, could you do me one more favour and expand the following sentences so as to clarify the difference in meaning between the two members of pair?
a. I have the family chauffeur drive me to school.
b. I have the family chauffeur to drive me to school.
a. They made the systems produce new sounds.
b. They made the systems to produce new sounds.
Thanks in advance!
Song
Hello Song,
The first sentence is a causative use of the verb “have” and the second is not.
Therefore, sentence 1a basically indicates that you cause the chauffeur to drive you to school, and that you cause this to happen with some regularity.
Sentence 1b basically only says that you “possess” someone (the chauffeur) who is available for a certain purpose. It does not actually say whether you make use of that availability or not.
Again, the first sentence is a causative use of the verb, and the second is not.
Sentence 2a indicates that they caused the system to produce new sounds. In other words, something that they did to the system was the cause of new sounds.
Sentence 2b tells you the reason why they made the system.
“[size=92]Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.[/size]”
— Abraham Lincoln
hi!
Could someone tell me the difference between “get someone to do sth” and “get someone do sth”?
(does “get someone do sth” mean : do sth by force???)
ex. 1. they get me to buy sth .
2. they get me buy sth.
You earliest reply will be greatly appreciated!!
zohre
Hi Zohre,
The only possible construction with the infinitive is with ‘to’ as in
They got me to tell them about my latest adventure.
It would also be possible to use the ‘ing’ form as in:
They got me telling them about my latest adventure.
Alan
Alen,thanks so much!
Thanks very much for your reply!
But seems that I didn’t express myself clearly.
Does “get someone do sth” mean:force someone to do sth???
If not so,what about this sentence: they give u a hard sell and try to get u buy sth that u have no need for
hi,
Does “get someone do sth” mean:force someone to do sth???
If not so,what about this sentence: they give u a hard sell and try to get u buy sth that u have no need for!!!
Hi,
As I said above, it is either get someone to do or get someone doing and not ‘get someone do’.
Remember to write the pronoun in full as ‘you’.
Alan