Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: equivalent sentences

(Unit 2, Section 3 - Structures with get and have)
The whole of my sister's class spent last weekend redecorating her flat.
(had) ......................................
The book suggests
"My sister had her flat redecorated by the whole of her class last 
weekend.", while I was thinking of
(*) "My sister had the whole of her class to redecorate her flat last 
weekend."
I seem to remember that the author of the book tends to prefer "get" to 
"have" in that context. For instance, he would've written:
(**) "My sister GOT the whole of her class to redecorate her flat last 
weekend."
My questions is:
Is sentence (*) correct?
Thank you.
Kiuhnm

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L'OALD dice: to tell or arrange for sb to do sth for you:
- [vn inf] "He had the bouncers throw them out of the club"
- [vn + adv. / prep.] "She's always having the builders in to do something 
or other"
Quindi il "to" andrebbe omesso. Perň si potrebbe dire "My sister had the 
whole of her class IN to redecorate her flat last weekend.", anche se il 
significato cambierebbe leggermente (il che renderebbe questa costruzione 
non idonea, secondo me).
I think the book suggestion fits best. 

 I think the book suggestion fits best. 
Ok, thanks.
Kiuhnm


Non so rispondere alla tua domanda, però credo che la frase (**) abbia un 
significato leggermente diverso, come se fosse "Mia sorella /ha convinto/ 
..." 


You're probably right.
Kiuhnm

 wrote in news:48aab0f9$0$40304
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(*) "My sister had the whole of her class redecorate her flat last 
weekend."
(No "to"). Or you could slip in an "over" or "round" and then you'd need 
the "to":
"My sister had the whole of her class over to redecorate her flat last 
weekend."
If you opt for (**) then you do need the "to".
Mind you, I don't see why this would not fly:
"The whole of my sister's class had spent last weekend redecorating her 
flat."
They all mean very slightly different things, of course.
(*) and (**) both suggest that the sister applied some pressure or 
suggestion or persuasion.
Your sentence leaves open the possibility that the class just turned up and 
got to work.
Mine just tells you what the class did and where they did it.
Unless these types of exercise come with a "KITTEN is to CAT as PUPPY is to 
???" type of introduction, then any of those sentences show an 
acceptableuse of "had" (at least once that extra "to" vanishes).
Antonio

 acceptableuse of "had" (at least once that extra "to" vanishes).
The exercise should be about particular "structures with get and have" 
like "I had my tooth removed" and "I got my friends to lend me a hand".
In your sentence, "had" is not so important, indeed
"The whole of my sister's class spent last weekend redecorating her 
flat." would still be acceptable.
What I mean is that given a sentence without "had" I'd almost always 
succeed in slipping in "had" by changing the tense. That wouldn't be 
very challenging, would it?
Anyway, feel free to suggest any idiomatic sentences you think would fit 
best. I use exercises just as a starting point. For example, I've just 
learned "to slip in"!
Thank you for your time.
Kiuhnm

 weekend."
There is a difference between "had the whole of her class to redecorate" and
"had the whole of her class redecorate". The first means that she had the
whole of her class at her disposal to redecorate, and the second means that
she used the whole of her class to redecorate.
Similar examples would be:
She had the whole class contend with the problem. (She left contending with
the problem to the class, and they did so).
She had the whole class to contend with the problem. (The whole class was
available to her to contend with the problem. They may or may not have done
so)
Luckily, she has them to help her, because the job will be too much for her
alone.
She has them help her with the packages, and then has them all sit down to
tea.
Joe from Massachusetts

 she used the whole of her class to redecorate.
I didn't think about that. It's the same as "She had many friends to 
talk with".
Good point, thanks.
Kiuhnm