The grammar for avoiding blame for awful or disastrous

outcomes by Jose Carillo

Almost always, the end of the year is review time for what the individual or the
institution has done or has been unable to do during the year in question. Since
human nature makes it so difficult to admit failure and culpability, such annual
reviews often also become occasions for passing the blame for awful or disastrous
outcomes. For instance, in the case of the horrendous disaster wrought by Typhoon
Sendong in southern Philippines recently, the finger-pointing for why it resulted in
the loss of almost 2,000 lives continues without letup to this day. We all know the
routine, and as always, the finger-pointing language used is both familiar and
disheartening.

In the English language, in particular, theres a special verb form that allows people
to avoid acknowledging responsibility for things that go sour or tragic. That verb
form is the causative verb, and in an essay that I wrote for my English-usage
column in The Manila Times in early 2006, I discussed how this verb lends itself very
nicely to the pass-the-blame routine. I have decided to post that essay in this
weeks edition of the Forum to help us see through the smokescreen of words
coming from the usual finger-pointers. Who knows, a good grasp of the grammar of
the causative verbs could make us figure out intelligently rather than superstitiously
whos really to blame for the grave misfortunes that have hounded our country
these past many months. (January 1, 2012)

Using causative and factitive verbs

When an awful act or serious mistake is made, particularly one that leads to a
disastrous or tragic outcome, rare indeed is the soul that comes out in the open to
take the blame for it. The usual response of the culpable is to ascribe the deed to
somebody else or something else:

They had me scoop the money from the vault at gunpoint. (The perpetrator of an
inside job is trying to extricate himself from the crime.)

An earthquake made the mountain unleash the deadly mudslide. (Actually,

loggers had ruthlessly stripped the mountain of every inch of its forest cover.)

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The grammar for avoiding blame for awful or disastrous
outcomes by Jose Carillo

The steel gates collapse caused the people to stampede. (The crowd-control
measures simply were too puny for so large a mass of humanity aiming to get rich
quick.)

The English language has, in fact, evolved a special verb form to make people avoid
acknowledging responsibilityif only for the momentwhen caught in such
situations. That verb form is the causative verb, which carries out an action that
causes another action to happen. In the three sentences given as examples above,
in particular, have is the causative verb in the first, causing the action scoop to
happen; make is the causative verb in the second, causing the action unleash to
happen; and cause is the causative verb in the third, causing the action
stampede to happen. In each case, the crime or calamitous outcome is
acknowledged but no one is accepting responsibility for it.

Causative verbs are, of course, not only meant to make people avoid taking
responsibility for things that have gone sour or disastrous. In general, they are used
to indicate the sort of actions that people dont do themselves but allow, ask, or
force other people to do: Emilys supervisor permitted her to leave early today.
Our landlady reminded us to pay our overdue rent. The thieves forced the
tourists to hand over their jewelry. Note that in a causative construction, the
subject doesnt actually do the action of the operative verb but only causes the
object to do that action. In the last example above, for instance, the subject is the
thieves and the object is the tourists, and the causative verb force makes this
object do the action of handing over the jewelry.

The other most commonly used causative verbs are allow, assist, convince,
employ, help, hire, let, motivate, remind, require, and urge. When
used in a sentence, practically all of these causative verbs are followed by an object
(a noun or pronoun) followed by an infinitive: We allowed foreigners to invest in the
local mining industry. The recruiter convinced me to leave for Jeddah at once.
The desperate applicant employed deceit to get the plum job.

The only notable exceptions to this pattern are the causative verbs have, make,
and let. They are followed by a noun or pronoun serving as an object, but this
time what follows the object is not an infinitive but the base form of the verb
(meaning its infinitive form without the to):

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The grammar for avoiding blame for awful or disastrous
outcomes by Jose Carillo

I had my fellow investors sign the incorporation papers yesterday.

They made him finish writing the book in only five weeks.

We let the students pick the class schedules they want.

Like the causative verb, another type of verb that exhibits peculiar behavior is the
so-called factitive verb. While the usual transitive verb can take only one direct
object, a factitive verb actually needs two of them. There are only a few of its kind,
however, among them choose, elect, judge, adjudge, make, name, and
select.

Heres how a factitive verb works: The prestigious finance magazine last night
chose our company Best at Consumer Goods in its annual poll. Here, choose is
the factitive verb, our company is the direct object, and Best at Consumer
Goods is the objective complementall three in tight, uninterrupted interlock.
(February 20, 2006)

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From the weekly column English Plain and Simple by Jose A. Carillo in The Manila
Times, February 20, 2006 issue 2006 by The Manila Times. All rights reserved.

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