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In English, the passive causative is used for services.^[1]https://blog.esllibrary.com/2014/02/20/the-passive-causative/

It is a mix of the causative-verbs and passive voice. The easiest way to understand it is by looking at each part separately and then combining the two.

Passive Voice

In English there are two voices, active and passive.

The active voice is when the subject does the action. This is the easiest to understand and generally used in spoken speech.^[2]https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/causative-verbs-active-and-passive/

The passive voice is when the subject receives the action. This can be a bit more difficult to understand; however, it is commonly used in technology, science, textbooks, and reports.

If you would like to learn more about the passive voice check out this article!

Causative Verbs

A causative verb is when we talk about an action that someone else did for us.

In other words, we “caused” the action to happen. This could be through persuasion or even paying a person.^[3]https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/causatives-have-get.html

The common causative verbs are:

have
let
make

Passive Causative

The easiest way to understand the this is through taking the same sentence and transforming to each of the 3 grammar forms.

For example:

Passive: The test was taken by the student.

Causative: The teacher had the student take the test.

Passive/Causative: The teacher had the test taken by the student.

References[+]

References
↑1	https://blog.esllibrary.com/2014/02/20/the-passive-causative/
↑2	https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/causative-verbs-active-and-passive/
↑3	https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/causatives-have-get.html

A cleft sentence is a phrase that takes a simple sentence and divides it into to part in order place emphasis on one of the parts.^[1]https://www.slideserve.com/nusa/what-is-a-cleft-sentence

It Cleft Sentence

This type of cleft uses the word “it” to identify what it is placing emphasis on.

The pattern is:

it + be + “highlighted word or phrase” + that/who clause^[2]https://www.slideshare.net/caticah/cleft-sentences-72374267

For example, if the original sentence is “Susie bought a movie from the store last month.”

We can make the…

Subject the focus

It was Susie who/that bought a movie from the store last month.

Object the focus

It was a movie that Susie bought from the store last month.

Time the focus

It was last month that Susie bought a movie from the store.

Place the focus

It was from the store that Susie bought a movie last month.

What Cleft Sentence

This type of cleft uses the word “what” to identify what it is placing emphasis on.

The pattern is:

what + be + “highlighted word or phrase”

For example, if the same original sentence as before “Susie bought a movie from the store last month.”

We can make the…

Word/phrase the focus

What Susie bought at the store last month was a movie.

Action the focus

What Susie did last month was buy a movie from the store.

Whole sentence the focus

What happened was Susie bough a movie from the store last month.

Other Types of Cleft Sentence

There are a few other types of cleft sentence structures you can use.

For example:

The person who said it was Fred.
The thing she wants is a hamburger.
The place I used to work at is closed.
The time I went to university was the best time of my life.
The reason she didn’t say anything was due to her shyness.

Practice Exercises

Rewrite the following sentences to put emphasis on the underlined part. Use “it” cleft sentences.

References[+]