Learn About Causative Verbs

In English grammar, a causative verb  is a verb  used to indicate that some person or thing makes—or helps to make—something happen. Examples of causative verbs  include (make, cause, allow, help, have, enable, keep, hold, let, force, and require), which can also be referred to as causal verbs or simply causatives. A causative verb, which can be in any tense, is generally followed by an object and another verb form—often an infinitive or a  participle—and are used to describe something that happens because of a person, place, or thing whose actions bring about change in another entity. Interestingly enough, the word cause isnt the prototypical causative verb in English because cause has a much more specific and less frequently used definition than make, which is used most frequently to indicate someone making something happen. Allows vs. Lets English grammar is full of small rules that help speakers understand the vast  subtleties of correct usage and style. Such is the case with the rules pertaining to the causative verbs allows and lets, wherein both convey the same meaning—a person permits another to do something—but require different noun-verb form pairings to follow them. The word allows is almost always followed by an object, which in turn is followed by the infinitive form of the verb allows is modifying. Such is the case in the sentence Corey allows his friends to chat with him, wherein allows is the causative verb, his friends the object of the phrase, and to chat the infinitive form of what Corey is allowing his friends to do. On the other hand, the causative verb lets is almost always followed by an object and then the base form of the verb thats being modified. Such is the case in the sentence Corey lets his friends chat with him, wherein lets is the causative verb, his friends the object of the phrase, and chat the base form of the verb Corey lets his friends do. The Most Popular Causative Verb One would think that cause would be the most frequently used and typical example of causative verbs, but thats simply not the case. Ugandan-born British linguist Francis Katamba explains in Morphology that the word cause is a causative verb, but it has a more specialized meaning (implying direct causation) than make, and it is much less common.   Instead, make is the most common causative verb, which also differs from other causative verbs in that it omits the word to from complementary verb clauses that follow while in the active form (make), but does require the word to while in the passive form of made. For example, Jill makes me run daily, and I was made to run daily by Jill. In both senses, the causative verb make still implies that someone causes the subject to run, but English grammar dictates that the accompanying verb phrase for make differs for that of made. Rules like these abound in usage and style, and its important for English as an alternative language (EAL) students to commit these types of guidelines to memory—as they dont often appear in other forms. Source Katamba, Francis. Morphology. Palgrave Macmillan, 1993.