Structure: have (or get) something done

Louvre security guard 1: Is the Mona Lisa supposed to have a moustache?

Louvre security guard 2: No.

Guard 1: Looks like we’ll be getting it restored then.

Guard 2: Oops.

Statement of form

have or get (in any tense or structure) + something + past participle

What students need to know

We use this when someone else does something for us, because we don't have the skill, time, inclination or authority to do it ourselves:

"We got the election result overturned." (We didn’t have the authority to overturn it ourselves.)

"I had my hip replaced." (I didn't have the umpteen years of medical training, access to anaesthetics, equipment or highly trained support team to do it myself.)

"We had our carpets professionally cleaned." (We have far more money than is good for us.)

"I got my boobs reduced." (no logical reason.)

Some books teach another meaning wherein things, usually bad, happen to us:

He got his bike stolen.

I used to get all my short stories rejected.

We had our carpets ruined by those professional cleaners.

Students struggle with

Confusion with the passive, which it closely resembles. Compare these, which could all be describing the same situation:

Cowboys built my conservatory.  (active)

My conservatory was built by cowboys. (passive)

I had my conservatory built by cowboys. ("causative")

The average learner is doing well if they can form the straight passive. This new structure might be useful but it is trickier to put together and implies a higher level meaning (I caused it to happen, acting through someone else.) Little surprise you hardly ever hear a student using it accurately.

Generative situations

Hypochondriac. Elicit the word “hypochondriac” for a person who is obsessively worried about their health. Then either elicit, or pre-prepare, some typical examples of behaviour of a serious hypo:

He has his cholesterol measured, his blood pressure taken, his PSA count measured, dark patches checked. He eats lots of fruit and vegetables, he goes jogging every day; he worries a lot.

If you’re providing the sentences, you could cut them up so that students have to match the beginning and end of each sentence. Or simply display the complete sentences right at the start of the lesson and elicit from the students what kind of person this is.

From these examples, you can establish which things he does, and which are done by a health care professional.

Plastic surgery overkill. It’s possible to find online some good images comparing famous people before and after plastic surgery (Julia Roberts and Victoria Beckham both seem to be, err, good examples.)

Show Students the pictures and establish who it is, and the fact that they have had plastic surgery. Then elicit what they have probably had done. Try to avoid every sentences ending in “had ___ done.” Instead, try to elicit “reduced”, “enlarged”, shortened”, “lightened”, “lifted”, “stretched” etc. Some of these will need to be pre-taught.

You then have plenty of examples from which to highlight the  meaning and form.

Fun practice

DIY bore vs. New money bore. Establish with the students the two kinds of people: those who enjoy, and are serious about, fixing, improving and extending their home themselves, and those who prefer to pay someone else to do it.

First get the class to think of ten or twelve changes that a home owner might make, such as re-decorate, fit a new door, install a shower, extend a bedroom, and so on.

Next put students into pairs, and get them to role-play an exchange between the two, with the New Money boaster being constantly reminded that he is wasting his money:

New Money: We’re having our dining room extended.

DIY: Don’t have it done, I can do it for you! Much cheaper!

New Money: We’re going to have our kitchen re-decorated.

DIY: Don’t have it done. I can do it easily!

(Note the incidental practice of future forms here, as well as heavy contrastive stress practice for the students playing the DIY enthusiast.)