Syntactic Causatives

What is a Causative?

A causative construction expresses that one participant causes another participant to perform an action or to be in a particular state. In English this idea can be realized in several ways: lexical verbs (e.g., make, let, have), periphrastic constructions (get+past participle), or by changing the valency of a verb.

Syntactic vs. Lexical Causatives

In linguistic theory the term syntactic causative refers to causatives that are formed by a grammatical operation rather than by adding a separate lexical verb. The operation typically involves exposing an argument that would otherwise be an internal argument of the verb.

Example of a lexical causative:

Example of a syntactic causative:

In the second sentence the causative meaning is contributed by a syntactic rule that adds a new external argument (John) and demotes the original subject (Mary) to an infinitival complement.

How English Forms Syntactic Causatives

English does not have a dedicated morphological causative affix, but it uses a few productive patterns that behave syntactically.

• Make + object + bare infinitive often considered lexical but functions syntactically because the object is promoted to the subject of the infinitive.
  
  The teacher made the students write essays.
• Let + object + bare infinitive conveys permission; the object becomes the understood subject of the infinitive.
  
  She let him leave early.
• Have + object + past participle expresses a causative sense of arranging for someone to do something.
  
  I had the mechanic check the brakes.
• Get + object + past participle a less formal alternative to have.
  
  We got the chef to prepare a special menu.
• Cause + object + toinfinitive uses the lexical verb cause but the resulting structure is syntactically identical to other causatives.
  
  The rain caused the river to flood.

ValencyChanging Causatives in Other Languages

Many languages have productive morphological causatives that change a verbs valency directly. For instance, Turkish adds the suffix -tir/-dir to a verb stem (yazmak yazdrmak to make write). While English lacks such affixes, studying them helps illustrate what makes a construction syntactic: the causative meaning is derived by a rule that reassigns grammatical roles rather than by inserting a separate lexical item.

Properties of Syntactic Causatives

• Argument Structure: A new external causer is introduced; the original subject becomes an embedded subject or object.
• Control: The embedded subject is usually a control variable (e.g., in John made Mary wash the dishes, Mary is understood as the one who performs the washing).
• Aspect and Voice: Causatives interact with perfective, progressive and passive forms just like ordinary verbs (e.g., The manager had the report being revised).
• Negation and Modality: Negating a causative often targets the matrix verb (John didnt make Mary wash the dishes), while modal auxiliaries can appear in either clause (John might have let her go).

Common Errors to Avoid

Because English causatives involve multiple verbs, learners often make the following mistakes:

• Using a bare infinitive after let without an object (Let go vs. Let him go).
• Confusing causative make with permissive let (She made him go She let him go).
• Dropping the infinitive marker after cause (The storm caused the river flood).

Practice Sentences

Identify the causative pattern in each sentence.

1. The boss had the assistant prepare the presentation.
2. We got the landlord to lower the rent.
3. She let the children stay up late.
4. Heat causes metal to expand.
5. They made the audience applaud.

Further Reading

For a deeper theoretical account, see:

• Jackendoff, R. (1992). Languages of the Mind. MIT Press.
• Carnie, A. (2005). Syntax: A Generative Introduction. WileyBlackwell.
• Koonin, A. (2011). Causatives in Generative Grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 42: 257284.