♦ to have sb doing sth she had us all helping with the dinner nach ihrer Ermunterung halfen wir alle mit dem Abendessen she soon had them all reading and writing dank ihres Engagements konnten alle schon bald lesen und schreiben ♦ to have had it inf he has had it To See (sb/sth) Doing. SEE. Nähdä: 1. I saw you running in the park. (you singular) 1. (Minä) näin sinun juoksevan puistossa. 1. (Minä) näin sinun juoksemassa puistossa. 2. I saw him talking to Maria. 2. (Minä) näin hänen puhuvan Marialle/Marian kanssa. 2. (Minä) näin hänen puhumassa Marialle/Marian kanssa. 3. I saw her talking to WcEmBw. 8 Hello Newbie, 1. I can't have them playing round here 2. I can have them playing round here For me, 1 suggests the impatient comment of a busy parent whose children are interrupting the work in hand. 2 however doesn't suggest the welcoming, amiable comment of such a parent in such a situation. So I would say, no, the idiom requires the negative. Not to be confused with another idiomatic use of "have" 3. "I want to go away next weekend, but I don't know what to do about the children." "Oh well, we can have them, if you like." — where "we can have them" = "we can provide accommodation, etc. for them". Or 4. I had those children playing outside my window again this afternoon. — which = "Those children were playing..."; but the "I had" suggests "mild annoyance". As for other tenses, I would say no; or at least, I can't think of an example. It may be worth noting that the "I will not" in this structure has an implication of "I am unwilling", rather than simple futurity. I'd be interested to know what other members think. Best wishes, MrP ___ PS sorry about the late reply, Newbie! The causative structure is really for when you have paid/asked for something to be done, the gardening. I had those horrible weeds dug up. The above example shows the form have + object + past participle. In the case you describe, you cannot make the listeners enjoy the speech, so you can't use the causative form above. You can of course be the cause of their happiness/enjoyment if your speech is good, which is why we have to say more directly I hope you will enjoy this lesson/lecture. So if you can't say enjoy, what can you say? Well, since it must be something that you can make happen, let's try "laugh" I hope I will have you laughing by the end of this talk. This verb can be used, since it is you who is directly provoking the reaction of laughing. So have + somebody + verb + -ing is the structure we can use for a result that you create I had them eating out of the palm of my hand. Have + somebody + infinitive is the structure used when we want to talk about the person who did something that we paid/asked them to do I had the gardener dig up those horrible weeds.

have sb doing sth