Re: have something done
- From: "Django Cat" <nospam@please>
- Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 11:43:28 -0500
sklin wrote:
When we say "have something done," is that "something" necessarily
done by others? I came across a "problematic" (?) sentence in an ESL
book.
Josh is describing his first day of working at a restaurant. "The
manager made me wear a weird-looking uniform. Then he had me bow to
the customers at the front door, which was really embarrassing. On
top of that, the manager asked me to have the kitchen floor mopped
within ten minutes..."
Is the last sentence correct? Curiously enough, it sounded pretty
O.K to me., but then I realized why not just say, "...asked me to mop
the floor"?
It's not a causative form, it's a sort of way of using present perfect
to describe a future event. If you say, 'the manager said I was to
have finished peeling the potatoes by the time he got back', we're not
talking about anyone but you being the potato-peeling agent. The
future situation will have that perfect-aspect feel; on the manager's
return your potato-peeling event will have had a result in the then
present of a pile of freshly peeled potatoes.
Interesting one.
DC
.
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- From: sklin
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