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Working with an Agency: causative have and get for a creative brief

Causative have and get are the focus of this B2 Business English lesson plan, for the jobs a company arranges for others to do, from bag designs to translations.

Grammar
Have or get + object + past participle in every tense (We're having the bags redesigned.), have someone do and get someone to do.
Topic
Briefing a design agency on new coffee bags and deciding what stays in-house, with words such as outsource, a mock-up, print-ready and turnaround time.
Activities
A creative brief, a talk about who does what, self-checking drills, an email chat with the agency and a wheel, then a brief to write and a story to record.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: Do It Yourself?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and discussOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the vocabulary: working with agenciesVocabularyTry it
    • Match the phrases to the situationsMatchUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Reading: Five Bags, One Brief

    • Read the creative briefReal-life documentTry it
    • True or false? Read the brief againTrue or falseUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: who does what?QuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Listening: Whose Story Is It?

    • Listen to Ana and Sam plan the briefListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: Ana and Sam's planQuizUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: Having It Done

    • Study the scheme: have and get something doneGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct option: who does the job?Choose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: put the verbs in the correct formFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: complete the patternsDrag and dropTry it
    • Fill in the table: someone else does itFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: who did the job?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Speaking: Who Does What?

    • Choose the best replyChatTry it
    • Spin the wheel and discussSpin the wheelUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework: Brief Your Own Agency

    • Choose the correct option: have, get and the past participleChoose the optionUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: phrases and their meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Write a brief for an agency or a supplierWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
    • Record a story: a job you had doneSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

22 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Outsourcing vocabulary

10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • the scope of the work
  • a mock-up
  • a round of changes
  • print-ready
  • turnaround time
  • charge extra
  • a point of contact

Grammar: causative have and get

A brief is a list of who does what, and the causative is how English says it. Learners set doing a job yourself against having it done, build have and get + object + past participle in every tense, and name the person with have someone do or get someone to do.

Causative have and get

How to say what you arrange for other people to do for you

Do it yourself, or have it done?

We redesigned the bags means our own team did the work; We had the bags redesigned means someone did it for us. The same goes for Ana is writing the stories and We're having the stories translated, or Ryan checked the sizes himself and Ryan had the sizes checked.

We do it ourselves

  • We redesigned the bags.
  • Ana is writing the stories.
  • Ryan checked the sizes himself.

Someone does it for us

  • We had the bags redesigned.
  • We're having the stories translated.
  • Ryan had the sizes checked.

Have or get + object + past participle

The object comes before the past participle: We need to get the labels translated. Like the passive, the pattern ends in a participle, and the tense is carried by have alone: We have the grinders serviced every month. We've already had the price list sent.

The thing that is done

have / getthe objectthe past participle

We're having the bags redesigned.

We need to get the labels translated.

Only have changes: all tenses

FormExample
Present simpleWe have the grinders serviced every month.
Present continuousWe're having the bags redesigned at the moment.
Past simpleWe had the roastery roof repaired last winter.
Present perfectWe've already had the price list sent to our clients.
willWe'll have the files checked before printing.
going toWe're going to have the bags printed in February.
After a modal or toWe need to get the labels translated.

Have someone do, get someone to do

To name who does the job, have + person takes the base form and get + person takes to: We'll have the agency send three ideas. Can you get Ryan to check the sizes? Never have the agency to send, get Ryan check or had the agency sent.

The person who does it

PatternThen useExample
have + personthe base form, no toWe'll have the agency send three ideas.
get + personto + the base formCan you get Ryan to check the sizes?
have / get + thingthe past participleWe'll have the ideas printed.

Typical mistakes: the person

  • Can you get Ryan check the sizes?

    Can you get Ryan to check the sizes?

    get + person + to + the base form.

  • We'll have the agency to send three ideas.

    We'll have the agency send three ideas.

    have + person + the base form, no to.

  • Sam had the agency sent three ideas.

    Sam had the agency send three ideas.

    After the person, use the base form, not the past participle.

Have or get, and when to add by

Get is a little more informal and often shows effort: we finally got the client to pay. In a formal email, have is safer. Add by + the person only when it matters (by a freelance translator), and form questions as usual: Did you have the samples tested?

  • Add by + the person only when it matters: We're getting the texts translated by a freelance translator.
  • Questions and negatives work like any normal verb: Did you have the samples tested? We haven't had the photos taken yet.
  • Get is a little more informal, and it often shows that the job takes effort: It took three emails, but we finally got the client to pay.
  • In a formal email, have is the safer choice.

Had the bags redesigned, or had redesigned the bags?

Word order changes the meaning. We had the bags redesigned is the causative: an agency did it. We had redesigned the bags is the past perfect: we did it ourselves, earlier. The object sits between have and the participle, so We're having redesigned the bags is wrong.

Word order changes the meaning

We had the bags redesigned. An agency did the job for us. We had redesigned the bags. We did it ourselves, before another moment in the past (the past perfect). In the causative, the object always goes between have / get and the past participle.

Typical mistakes: the thing

  • We're having redesigned the bags.

    We're having the bags redesigned.

    The object goes before the past participle.

  • We need to get the labels translate.

    We need to get the labels translated.

    Use the past participle, not the base form.

  • We redesigned the bags by Linnet Studio.

    We had the bags redesigned by Linnet Studio.

    If someone else did the job, say so with have or get.

More lessons on this grammar: Passive voice lessons and exercises

Try the causative have and get exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

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What's in the lesson

  • 11 auto-checked exercises
  • 3 games
  • 2 teacher-checked tasks
  • 1 real-life document
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 1 audio clip
  • 1 picture
  • 1 transcript

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say who did a job: We redesigned the bags (ourselves) or We had the bags redesigned (someone did it for us)
  • use have or get + object + past participle in any tense: We've already had the price list sent. We need to get the labels translated.
  • arrange a job with have someone do and get someone to do: We'll have the agency send three ideas. Can you get Ryan to check the sizes?
  • brief an agency or a supplier: what you want done, what your team will do itself, the budget and the deadline

Lesson 19 comes third in Looking back and ahead, the last unit of Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield, in which a fictional Portland coffee roaster looks back on its year and plans the next. The causative builds on lesson 10's passive, which also ends in a past participle, and on lesson 7's ask someone to do; lesson 20, the course's last, turns to the future continuous and future perfect. An agency brief comes down to who does what, the very question the causative answers.

The warm-up asks what learners' companies outsource and what makes a good brief, then brings ten word cards with pictures and audio, from brief an agency to a point of contact, and a matching exercise. The creative brief asks a Portland design agency for one look across five coffee bags, in English, Dutch and German. In the AI-voiced talk, the marketing manager and the head of sourcing agree who does what: the agency designs, outside help takes the photos and translates, and the stories stay in-house.

The scheme leads into five self-checking exercises, among them a table that hands each job to someone else. In the email chat, students answer the agency as the marketing manager; a wheel holds role-plays and opinions on agencies and in-house work. At home, learners choose between causative forms and play a memory game, both checked automatically; a brief for an agency or supplier and a recorded story about a job they had done go to the teacher.

Grammar:
causative have · causative get · have something done
Topic:
working with an agency · outsourcing · creative brief

Teaching tips

  • Turn the brief into a who-does-what chart: one column for the agency, one for the company's own staff, one for outside help. Learners fill it in, then say each line with have or get.
  • Warm up with jobs people have done at home, such as a haircut or a car service: I'm having my car serviced tomorrow comes easily, and the pattern then moves to agencies and suppliers.
  • Ask an in-company group what their team outsources and what it keeps in-house, then have each person defend one choice with the causative: We have our accounts done by an outside firm because…
  • Let a one-to-one client brief you on a real job: you play the agency and ask about scope, budget and deadline, and they answer with We'd like to have… and We'll get…

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The whole course: Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield

20 lessons at B2 in American English that follow a year at Wrenfield Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon, as founder Claire Morgan and her team win a Dutch hotel contract. Learners network, write emails, run meetings, negotiate, handle complaints and present figures, with one grammar point per lesson.See the course

  1. Unit 1 First contacts

    networking, a company story, a business lunch and emails: present tenses, the present perfect, question tags, indirect questions

    1. Lesson 1Making ContactsPresent simple and present continuous at work
    2. Lesson 2Our Story: From Cart to RoasteryPresent perfect and past simple for company history
    3. Lesson 3The Business LunchQuestion tags and short answers
    4. Lesson 4Emails That Get AnswersIndirect questions and polite requests

  2. Unit 2 Meetings and figures

    scheduling, sales figures, running a meeting and negotiating: future forms, trends, gerunds and infinitives, conditionals

    1. Lesson 5Setting Up MeetingsFuture forms for meetings and schedules
    2. Lesson 6The Monthly FiguresDescribing trends
    3. Lesson 7Running a MeetingGerunds and infinitives in meetings
    4. Lesson 8Negotiating a DealFirst and second conditionals in a negotiation

  3. Unit 3 Problems and growth

    a complaint, a late shipment, a launch and hiring: the present perfect continuous, the passive, comparatives, relative clauses

    1. Lesson 9Handling a ComplaintPresent perfect simple vs continuous
    2. Lesson 10The Late ShipmentThe passive in all tenses
    3. Lesson 11Launching a ProductComparatives and superlatives with modifiers
    4. Lesson 12Hiring the Right PersonDefining and non-defining relative clauses

  4. Unit 4 Reports, prices and feedback

    reporting back, explaining prices, expenses and feedback: reported speech, linking words, modals of obligation, past modals

    1. Lesson 13Reporting BackSay vs tell in reported speech
    2. Lesson 14Explaining PricesLinking words of contrast, cause and result
    3. Lesson 15Travel and Expenses: Can I Claim That?Modals of obligation, prohibition and permission
    4. Lesson 16Giving FeedbackShould have, could have and didn't need to

  5. Unit 5 Looking back and ahead

    what went wrong, other cultures, an agency and next year: the third and mixed conditionals, past deduction, the causative, the future perfect

    1. Lesson 17What Went WrongThird and mixed conditionals
    2. Lesson 18Working Across CulturesModals of deduction, present and past
    3. Lesson 19 · you're hereWorking with an AgencyCausative have and get
    4. Lesson 20The Road AheadFuture continuous and future perfect

Questions about this lesson

What does "have something done" mean?
Have something done means to arrange for someone else to do a job: We're having the bags redesigned says an agency is doing the design, not your own team. The pattern is have + object + past participle: I'm having my car serviced tomorrow. We had the roastery roof repaired last winter. Add by only when the person matters: by a local roofer.
What are causative verbs in English?
Causative verbs show that someone causes or arranges an action: have, get, make and let. Make forces an action and let allows it, while have and get do most of the work in business, for jobs others do for you: We need to get the labels translated. We'll have the agency send three ideas. Working with an Agency, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, focuses on these two.
How do you use causative have in different tenses?
In the causative, put have in the tense you need and keep the object and the participle as they are: We have the grinders serviced every month. We're having the bags redesigned. We've already had the price list sent. We're going to have the bags printed in February. Questions and negatives work like any verb: Did you have the samples tested? We haven't had the photos taken yet.
What's the difference between causative have and get?
The meaning is close, but get is more informal and often suggests effort: It took three emails, but we finally got the client to pay. In a formal email, have is the safer choice. With a person, the patterns differ: have + person + base form (We'll have the agency send three ideas), but get + person + to (Can you get Ryan to check the sizes?).
How do you use "get something done"?
As a causative, get something done means arranging for a job to be done: get + object + past participle, as in We need to get the printer fixed or We're getting the texts translated by a freelance translator. To name the person, use get + person + to: Could you get Laura to call me back? In casual speech, I need to get this report done can simply mean finish it yourself.
Is it "have the agency send" or "have the agency to send"?
It's have the agency send, with no to: We'll have the agency send three ideas. Have + person takes the base form, while get + person takes to: Can you get Ryan to check the sizes? Don't use the participle after a person either: Sam had the agency send three ideas, not sent. A drag-and-drop in Working with an Agency on edio.ai drills both patterns.
Is it "we had the bags redesigned" or "we had redesigned the bags"?
Both are correct, but only had the bags redesigned means someone else did it. That's the causative: an agency did the work for us. We had redesigned the bags is the past perfect: we did it ourselves, before another moment in the past. In the causative, the object always goes between have and the participle. A quiz in the B2 lesson Working with an Agency on edio.ai asks who did the job each time.
What's the difference between outsourcing and keeping work in-house?
To outsource is to pay another company to do work; in-house work is done by your own staff. A small company might outsource its packaging design to an agency and its translations to a freelancer, but keep its origin stories in-house, because nobody knows its farmers better. The causative describes the split: We're having the bags redesigned, but we're writing the stories ourselves.
How do you write a brief for an agency?
A good brief covers the job, your part, the dates and the budget. Give the project and its background, what the agency should do, what you'll provide yourselves, the deadlines, the budget and a point of contact: Three first ideas by the end of November. $18,000, including two rounds of changes. The creative brief in Working with an Agency on edio.ai follows this order, with the causative for who does what: we're having them taken by local photographers.
How do I teach causative have and get to business English learners?
Start with who does the job: put We redesigned the bags beside We had the bags redesigned and ask who did the work each time. Build the pattern with everyday jobs, such as a haircut or a car service, then move to agencies and suppliers. Role-plays in which learners brief a supplier or chase a late agency bring out have someone do and get someone to do.
What's good homework for practicing the causative?
Good homework is a short brief for an agency or a supplier with three causative forms: what you want done, what your team will do itself, the budget and the deadline. That's the writing task in Working with an Agency, a B2 Business English lesson on edio.ai, next to a recorded story about a job you had done; the teacher reviews both, and a drill and a memory game check themselves.
Are there interactive exercises for causative have and get?
Yes: drag-and-drop gaps that rebuild each pattern show at once whether to, have or the participle belongs in the gap. You can try four parts of Working with an Agency, a B2 Business English lesson on edio.ai, on this page without an account: the creative brief for new coffee bags, a talk about who does what, a drag-and-drop on have, get and to, and an email chat with the design agency. The other exercises are locked.
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