THE GRAMMAR PAGES

LANGUAGE SECTION

The “have” passive

ADRIAN DOFF erklärt die Verwendung dieser speziellen Passivform anhand eines kurzen
Dialogs. In der nächsten Ausgabe von Spotlight finden Sie weitere Aspekte dieses Themas.

MEDIUM PLUS

Liz and her partner bought a house a few years ago. Liz is telling her friend Jo all about the work involved.

It’s quite an old

house – early 60s.
So, I guess you’ve done u
a lot of work on it.
Well, we haven’t done
u it ourselves. But
we’ve had a lot of work
done v on it, yes.

Oh, yeah?

Yes, we had a heat pump

put in w last year.
That’s a good idea.
Saves energy.

Yes, but it was really expensive.

We had to get the floors
relaid x, so we could have
underfloor heating put in y.
So have you finished
everything now?

No, unfortunately not. We’ve just

found out we need to have all
our drainage pipes replaced y –
they’re leaking.
Oh, no – that sounds
like a huge job!

Yes, it is. And the rainwater has to drain

separately into the garden. So, now, we’re
having a special drainage system put in
U, which means digging the garden up.
It’s a nightmare.

Sounds as if you’ll need a

holiday after all that.
Well, we had to cancel our
holiday. We can’t afford it!

56 SPOTLIGHT 2022 THE GRAMMAR PAGES

 LANGUAGE SECTION
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT

u Here, Liz and Jo use an active verb

in the present perfect tense:“have”
+ past participle + object (you’ve
done a lot of work; we haven’t done
it ourselves). BEYOND THE
BASICS
v Here, Liz uses a different structure: Instead of “have”, we
“have” + object + past participle can also use “get”:
• We need to get the
(we’ve had a lot of work done). car serviced.
This is a form of the passive called
The use of “get” often
the “have” passive. It is used to suggests that the
talk about things that other people person is more actively THE RULES
involved in what
do for you. (= Liz and her partner happens:
haven’t done the work themselves • I have my hair cut The “have” passive is used for things that others
about once a month.
– a company has done it for them.) do for you:
⋅⋅
(= It’s a routine.)
• I really must get my She dyed her hair. (= She did it herself.)
hair cut.
w We can use the “have” passive with (= I must make an She had her hair dyed. (= She didn’t do it
different tenses. Above, Liz used it appointment.) herself – the hairdresser dyed it for her.)
in the present perfect tense (we’ve
had…). Here, she uses it in the past The “have” passive is formed with the verb
simple (we had…). “have” + object + participle. Compare these
examples:
x Instead of “have”, we can also use
get. So, Liz could also say here, “We
⋅ They collect our rubbish once a week.
(active)
had to have the floors relaid”, with
the same meaning.
⋅ Our rubbish is collected once a week.
(passive)

y Here, Liz uses the infinitive form

⋅ We have our rubbish collected once a week.
(“have” passive)
of the “have” passive after the verbs
could and need to (could have…,
need to have…)
⋅ A nurse checked my blood pressure.
(active)

U Here, she uses the present contin-

⋅ My blood pressure was checked by a nurse.
(passive)
uous form of the “have” passive
to talk about an ongoing activity
⋅ I had my blood pressure checked by a
nurse. (“have” passive)
(we’re having…).

NOW, TRY THIS! M

Add “have” and one of the verbs from the list below
to complete these sentences.

cleaned | cut | repaired | tested

Illustration: SensVector/iStock.com

A. You need to ________ your eyes ________.

B. Do you know a shop where I can ________ my watch
drain leak
, ablaufen , leck sein _________?
drainage pipe [(dreInIdZ] nightmare D. have; cleaned C. She decided to ________ her hair ________ very short.
, Entwässerungsrohr , Alptraum
C. have; cut
B. have; repaired D. These carpets smell terrible. We need to ________
heat pump ongoing A. have; tested
them __________.
, Wärmepumpe , laufend
Answers

THE GRAMMAR PAGES SPOTLIGHT 2022 57