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Usage of "Responsible for having"

English Language Learners Asked by Jaebum on November 10, 2021

If some functionality A makes B to do something, can we say

  • A is responsible for having B to do sth.
  • A is responsible for making B to do sth.

Do both sentences make sense? To me, it seems like the second one is natural but I am wondering whether we can switch "making" to "having" instead.

One Answer

With the word "to" removed, both forms are grammatical, with slightly different meanings. Both "have" and "make" in this causative use take a bare infinitive, without "to" (the plain form of the verb):

Google Books Advanced English Grammar

Like verbs of the senses, verbs with causative meaning like make and have (verbs that communicate that someone wants someone else to do something) are complemented by an NP followed by a bare infinitive.

  1. A is responsible for having B do sth.

  2. A is responsible for making B do sth.

The second version sounds more forceful. It might suggest that B didn't want to do sth.

Answered by Jack O'Flaherty on November 10, 2021

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