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The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard: causative verbs: have someone do, get someone to do

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches causative verbs with have and get through Motown history and the house in Detroit that Berry Gordy called Hitsville U.S.A.

Grammar
Have + person + base form to arrange or order (Gordy had his producers rework the song.) and get + person + to + base form to persuade (He got artists to take lessons.).
Topic
Hitsville U.S.A., its house band, quality control and lessons for artists, with words such as rework, single, reverb and poise.
Activities
An explainer to read, a museum tour and a bass player's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a chat to run the magazine and debate boxes.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: press play

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: inside the hit factoryVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2The Why Desk: can you build hits like cars?

    • Look at the photo: a house in DetroitPictureUnlock
    • Read Isaiah's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the paragraphs and the headingsMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: the guide who argued back

    • Listen to Isaiah and Una at Hitsville U.S.A.ListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Gene's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: Gordy had writers rework songs

    • Study the scheme: have someone do, get someone to doGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: have or get?Fill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Sort the sentences into the correct columns: have or get?Sort into columnsUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: run the desk for a day

    • Choose the right replies: run The Why Desk for a dayChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: hit factory or not?Open the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the sentence that means the sameQuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: the studio's weekly scheduleChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Isaiah answers GeneDrag and dropUnlock

33 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.

Music vocabulary

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

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • record label
  • single
  • quality control
  • songwriter
  • reverb
  • poise
  • house band
  • on the road
  • auto plant

Grammar: causative have and get: have someone do, get someone to do

Both patterns say that one person makes another act, but in different ways: have arranges or orders, and get persuades. A record company that sent songs back for more work and talked young singers into lessons shows both. Learners drop to after have and keep it after get, put the person right after the verb and choose the verb that fits the situation.

He had them rework it. He got them to rework it.

have + person + base form: you arrange it or give an order. get + person + to + base form: you persuade someone.

have + person + base form

Have + person + base form means you arrange something or give an order: Gordy had his producers rework the song. There's no to before the second verb, and the person comes right after have: I had a mechanic fix my car.

have / has / had+ person+ base form (no to)

Gordy had his producers rework the song.

get + person + to + base form

Get + person + to + base form means you persuade someone: He got young artists to take lessons in poise. Get works like persuade and ask, so to stays, while have works like make and let. In American English, the present perfect is has gotten.

get someone to do

get / gets / got+ person+ to + base form

He got young artists to take lessons in poise.

No to after have, to after get

have works like make and let: no to (had them rework it, made them rework it, let them rework it). get works like persuade and ask: with to (got them to rework it, persuaded them to rework it). The person always comes right after have or get. In American English, the present perfect is has / have gotten: Nobody has ever gotten Harper to read the instructions.

have or get?

Ask who decides. A boss, a teacher or a paid job means have: Motown had its house band back its artists in Studio A. Effort, a long talk, finally or couldn't point to get: We couldn't get the drummer to slow down.

have or get?

have = arrange or order

  • You are the boss, or it is the person's job.
  • Nobody needs to persuade anyone.
  • Gordy had his producers rework the song.
  • I had a mechanic fix my car.

get = persuade or convince

  • It takes some effort: the person may not want to.
  • Often with finally, after a long talk, couldn't.
  • He got young artists to take lessons.
  • I finally got my shy brother to sing.

At Hitsville U.S.A. and beyond

  • Every week, Gordy had producers and artists present new songs to the whole company.
  • In 1959, Gordy got his family to lend him $800.
  • Motown had its house band back its artists in Studio A.
  • My editor has me cut every draft in half.
  • We couldn't get the drummer to slow down.
  • Did you get your parents to say yes?

Every person, now and in the past

Only have or get changes: She has them rework it, She had them rework it, She gets them to rework it, She got them to rework it. Questions and negatives take do, does or did: Did you get your parents to say yes?

Personhave (now)have (past)get (now)get (past)
II have them rework it.I had them rework it.I get them to rework it.I got them to rework it.
youYou have them rework it.You had them rework it.You get them to rework it.You got them to rework it.
heHe has them rework it.He had them rework it.He gets them to rework it.He got them to rework it.
sheShe has them rework it.She had them rework it.She gets them to rework it.She got them to rework it.
it (the label)It has them rework it.It had them rework it.It gets them to rework it.It got them to rework it.
weWe have them rework it.We had them rework it.We get them to rework it.We got them to rework it.
theyThey have them rework it.They had them rework it.They get them to rework it.They got them to rework it.

Two look-alikes and common mistakes

With a thing and no person, use the past participle: Gordy had the song reworked. After a person, use the base form: had the singers record it, not recorded. And get + person + -ing means “make something start”: The band got everyone dancing.

Two look-alikes

With a thing and no person, use have + past participle: Gordy had the song reworked (we don't say who did it). With a person, use the base form: Gordy had his producers rework it. And get + person + -ing means “make something start”: The band got everyone dancing. For persuading, use to: She got them to take lessons.

Common mistakes

  • Gordy had his writers to rework the song.

    Gordy had his writers rework the song.

    have + person + base form: no to

  • Motown got young artists take lessons.

    Motown got young artists to take lessons.

    get + person + to + base form

  • The coach had practice them every day.

    The coach had them practice every day.

    the person comes right after have or get

  • Lois had the singers recorded the song again.

    Lois had the singers record the song again.

    after a person, the base form, not the past participle

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.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say what a boss arranged with have + person + base form: Gordy had his producers rework the song.
  • say whom you persuaded with get + person + to: In 1959, Gordy got his family to lend him $800.
  • choose have or get from the situation: Lois had the engineer check the microphones. Lois got Ira to sign up for the contest.
  • use both in questions and negatives: We couldn't get the drummer to slow down. Did you get your parents to say yes?
  • hand out a day's jobs in a chat: I'll have Isaiah check every date in it this morning.

Lesson 20 closes Pop culture goes global, unit 5 of English B2.1 · How the World Works. It builds on make, let and allow from B1.1 lesson 16, on lesson 7's have something done and on lesson 14's persuade someone to. Lesson 21 opens unit 6 with whenever and no matter. A label that sent songs back for more work and talked young singers into lessons needs both verbs.

Students spin a wheel of questions about songs, lessons and hits, then learn twelve words, from rework and choreograph to house band and auto plant, with pictures and audio. They read Isaiah's explainer Can you build hits like cars? and match its paragraphs to headings, then hear Isaiah tour the old house with Una, a guide who disagrees with him, and Gene, who played bass around Detroit for forty years, answer that only a songwriter writes songs; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking exercises, among them a table that asks which verb fits. In the speaking chapter, Leona leaves students in charge for a day in a chat, and boxes ask whether a hit factory helps artists.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the music-business words and a memory game, then forms to choose and sentences to build from the words in brackets, word order, a quiz on which sentence means the same, Lois's weekly studio plan and Isaiah's reply to Gene with words to drag in.

Grammar:
causative verbs · have someone do · get someone to do · have vs get
Topic:
Motown · Hitsville U.S.A. · Detroit · Berry Gordy · the music business · pop culture · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Ask who is in charge before students choose the verb. If nobody needs persuading, it's have; if someone said no first, it's get.
  • Start from the auto plant: ask what a car factory checks before a car leaves. Then students read to find which of those ideas Gordy used for songs.
  • Pause the museum tour after each causative, such as he had his producers rework… or Motown got young singers to take… Students say whether each one was an order or persuasion.
  • Play “boss for a day” after the chat: each student hands out three jobs with I'll have you…, then tries to talk a classmate into a favor and reports it with got.

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The whole course: English B2.1 · How the World Works

32 lessons for adults at B2 in American English, each answering one question about how the world works. The team of The Why Desk, a small online magazine in Pittsburgh, takes on one question a week, from the day a computer beat the world chess champion to eight people sealed inside Biosphere 2. Learners tell stories with narrative tenses, speculate about the past and the future, and report what experts claim. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 AI and the future of work

    narrative tenses, by and until, be bound to and be likely to, the future perfect

    1. Lesson 1Checkmate: the day a computer beat the championNarrative tenses: past simple, past continuous and past perfect
    2. Lesson 2The robot car that crossed the desertTime prepositions: by, until, within, throughout, in time and on time
    3. Lesson 3Can a chatbot fool you?Probability about the future: be bound to, be likely to, the chances are
    4. Lesson 4By 2035, what will AI have designed?The future perfect simple: will have + past participle

  2. Unit 2 Health breakthroughs

    the third conditional, the past perfect and past continuous passive, have something done, the passive with two objects

    1. Lesson 5The moldy melon that changed medicineThe third conditional: if + had done, would have done
    2. Lesson 61.8 million Polio PioneersThe past perfect passive and the past continuous passive
    3. Lesson 7One clinic, many doctorsHave / get something done
    4. Lesson 8A kidney from a twinThe passive with two objects

  3. Unit 3 Moving people

    the past perfect continuous, the passive infinitive and -ing form, it's worth and there's no point, the future in the past

    1. Lesson 9Six years to the golden spikeThe past perfect continuous vs the past perfect simple
    2. Lesson 10Riding a pod with no driverThe passive infinitive and the passive -ing form
    3. Lesson 11The town that painted bike lanes firstIt's worth, there's no point and it's no use + -ing
    4. Lesson 12The highways that were supposed to take 13 yearsThe future in the past

  4. Unit 4 Wildlife comebacks

    reporting verbs with a that clause, with an object and infinitive and with -ing, verbs of perception

    1. Lesson 13Did wolves really change Yellowstone's rivers?Reporting verbs + that clause
    2. Lesson 14Bringing a parrot back from the edgeReporting verbs + object + (not) to + base form
    3. Lesson 15The beavers that came by parachuteReporting verbs + -ing and verb + preposition + -ing
    4. Lesson 16Fifteen bison take the trainVerbs of perception + object + base form or -ing

  5. Unit 5 Pop culture goes global

    comment adverbs, wish and if only for the present and the past, have someone do and get someone to do

    1. Lesson 17The party that started hip hopComment adverbs: apparently, supposedly, undoubtedly
    2. Lesson 18Slide to the left!Wish and if only for wishes about now
    3. Lesson 19If only they'd kept SupermanWish and if only + past perfect for regrets
    4. Lesson 20 · you're hereThe hit factory on West Grand BoulevardCausative have and get: have someone do, get someone to do

  6. Unit 6 Money and smart choices

    -ever words and no matter, should have and could have, prepositions for numbers and change, it's time and would rather

    1. Lesson 21The bank that never closed-ever words and no matter
    2. Lesson 22One marshmallow now or two later?Should have, shouldn't have and could have
    3. Lesson 23Benjamin Franklin's 200-year giftPrepositions for numbers and change
    4. Lesson 24Why buy a drill you'll use once?It's (high) time and would rather + past simple

  7. Unit 7 Language and communication

    must have, might have and can't have, verb prefixes and suffixes, past modals in continuous and passive forms, agreement with quantities

    1. Lesson 25How did one man write down a language?Past modals of deduction: must have, might have, can't have
    2. Lesson 26Why do Americans write “color”?Verb prefixes and suffixes: misspell, rewrite, simplify, shorten
    3. Lesson 27The joke that needed a smileyPast modals in continuous and passive forms
    4. Lesson 28Can preschoolers save a language?Subject-verb agreement with quantities and collective nouns

  8. Unit 8 Exploring the extremes

    dimension nouns, the future continuous and future perfect continuous, compound adjectives, only, even and just

    1. Lesson 29A walk on the ocean floorDimension nouns and phrases: depth, width, height
    2. Lesson 30Six months of night at the South PoleThe future continuous and the future perfect continuous
    3. Lesson 31Flying on pedal powerCompound adjectives with numbers and participles
    4. Lesson 32Two years under glassFocus adverbs: only, even, just and at all

Questions about this lesson

What are causative verbs?
Causative verbs say that someone makes another person act. The main ones in English are have, get, make and let: Gordy had his producers rework the song. He got young artists to take lessons. At B2, have someone do and get someone to do come after have something done. The B2 lesson The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai teaches the two with Motown history.
How do you form have someone do and get someone to do?
Have + person + base form, with no to: Lois has the singers warm up. Get + person + to + base form: Ira got his parents to buy him a drum kit. The person comes right after have or get, and only that verb changes for person and tense: has, had, gets, got. The scheme in The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai shows every person.
What's the difference between causative have and get?
Have means you arrange it or give an order: you're the boss, or it's the person's job. Get means you persuade someone who may not want to: I finally got my shy brother to sing. So it's The manager had the band start at nine, but After a long talk, Lois got Ira to sign up. The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai has students sort situations into the two.
What are some examples of causative verbs?
Six from The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai: Every week, Gordy had producers and artists present new songs to the whole company. In 1959, Gordy got his family to lend him $800. Motown had its house band back its artists in Studio A. My editor has me cut every draft in half. We couldn't get the drummer to slow down. Did you get your parents to say yes? Only the sentences with get take to.
Is it “had them rework” or “had them to rework”?
It's had them rework: no to after have + person. With get, it's the other way around: got them to rework, not got them rework. Two more slips are common: the person in the wrong place (had practice them) and a past participle after a person (had the singers recorded). Several wrong replies in the chat of The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai use these slips.
What was Hitsville U.S.A.?
Hitsville U.S.A. was the house where Motown grew up. In 1959, Berry Gordy bought a two-family house on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, built his record company on the first floor and gave it that name. A photography studio at the back became Studio A, where the house band, the Funk Brothers, played. After Motown moved to Los Angeles in 1972, Gordy's sister Esther Gordy Edwards gave visitors tours, and the house became a museum.
How did Motown decide which songs to release?
At weekly, competitive meetings of the whole company, producers and artists presented their new work, and Gordy didn't put the Motown label on every song offered. A song that wasn't ready went back for more work: even “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was sent back after its first review. Isaiah's explainer in The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai compares this quality control to an auto plant, where Gordy had once worked.
How do I teach causative have and get to B2 students?
Teach the meaning before the form: who is in charge, and did anyone need persuading? Then show that have drops to and get keeps it. The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai sets both in Motown's story, from the explainer and the museum tour to the scheme, a table that asks have or get and four more drills.
What's a good game for practicing causative verbs?
Try “Talk me into it”: one student refuses a small request, and a classmate gets three tries to change their mind. If it works, the class reports it with get: She got him to sing. Then a “boss” hands out jobs with have: I'll have you clean the board. The boxes in The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai add questions such as what you'd have new singers do first.
What's good homework for causative have and get?
Good homework gives a situation and asks for the sentence: “Lois persuaded her shy brother to sing.” Which sentence means the same? Add gaps with the words in brackets and a short schedule to complete. All ten homework tasks in The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai check themselves, including Lois's plan for her studio's week and Isaiah's reply to Gene.
How do you practice causative have and get one-to-one?
Plan a busy week together: the student lists jobs to hand out at work or at home (I'll have my brother walk the dog) and one person who will need persuading (I'll try to get my boss to give me Friday off). The chat in The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard on edio.ai works without a partner: Leona is stuck at a conference, and the student runs the magazine for a day.
Are there interactive exercises for causative verbs?
Yes. With no account, this page plays three parts of The hit factory on West Grand Boulevard, a B2 lesson on edio.ai: Isaiah's tour of Hitsville U.S.A. with Una, a gap-fill that builds causative sentences from words in brackets, and a chat in which the student runs the magazine for a day. The rest needs an account.
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