0

In the book that I am learning, there was a sentence:

I had my watch mended.

I don't know what that means. Does it mean the following?

I commanded that my watch be fixed.

ostrichofevil
  • 980
  • 4
  • 12
EricHa
  • 107
  • 7
  • 1
    Possible duplicate of What role does this past-participle take? –  Apr 28 '16 at 12:35
  • @Rathony Can you comment easily...? I couldn't understand.... sorry – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 12:58
  • 1
    Possible duplicate means the linked question could be similar to yours and it could have an answer you are looking for. It doesn't necessarily mean it is the same question and other users might not agree. Don't worry too much about it. –  Apr 28 '16 at 13:08
  • Possible duplicate of Difference between "Let someone taste" and "Have someone taste" – FumbleFingers Apr 28 '16 at 13:11
  • @Rathony: Your link is only loosely "related". The one I found seems to be more or less an exact duplicate. – FumbleFingers Apr 28 '16 at 13:12
  • @FumbleFingers thank you haha... but both of your answers are not what I wanted. the answer what I wanted is under of your comment (varun's answer) – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 13:17
  • @FumbleFingers Well, It depends. I think it is more confusing whether to use a "bare infinitive" or "past participle" after an object for learners. –  Apr 28 '16 at 13:18
  • @EricHa: I think varun's answer is potentially misleading. Note the distinction between 1: She had him killed and 2: She got him killed, where #1 means she used her authority to (successfully) command that he be shot, whereas #2 just means she did things (possibly unintentionally, almost certainly not by way of direct authoritative command) that resulted in him dying. – FumbleFingers Apr 28 '16 at 13:47
  • @FumbleFingers oh... sorry I think what you are saying is the right one. you mean #1 means she commanded him to kill someone and #2 is she was killed by him?.... it's hard... haha – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 14:09
  • 2
    @EricHa: Read my comment again. Whether she *has* him killed, or *gets* him killed, the end result is always going to be that *he's dead, not her. The choice of verb reflects whether he died as a direct result of her specific order* that he be killed, or his death was simply in some way causally connected with her (she may simply have done something that "accidentally" resulted in his death; that would be the most common interpretation with *got*). – FumbleFingers Apr 28 '16 at 14:14
  • @FumbleFingers haha oh my God..... umm... #1 means she connected directly with his death and #2 means she didn't aim on his death but because of her behavior or something, he was dead?..... – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 14:27
  • @FumbleFingers sorry for my understanding – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 14:27
  • 2
    @EricHa: This is all covered one way or another in all the answers to the "original" I linked to earlier. In particular, "to have someone do X", it means to encourage or require or request the person to do X. That is, the other person may or may not want to do this, but you are asking or forcing them to do it. Obviously in your example the "agent" is unspecified, but you could say it's equivalent to I made* a watch-repairer fix it* (or I deliberately made a situation come about whereby the watch was mended, if we don't name the "agent"). – FumbleFingers Apr 28 '16 at 14:36
  • @FumbleFingers I think I am going into a maze..... – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 14:44
  • 1
    @EricHa: I'll have you know that this is a very common idiomatic usage, so it's worth you spending time getting to grips with exactly how it's used and what it implies. – FumbleFingers Apr 28 '16 at 14:55
  • @FumbleFingers In the explain from you, He said it's like silent permission. If i dont have confidence of taste, I have to use 'have' isn't it...? I'm really thankful for your kindness. – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 15:14
  • @FumbleFingers but other comment said it can be forcing.... It means requiring silence accepting? – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 15:15
  • 1
    @EricHa: I think you haven't understood the situation in the linked question. It's got nothing to do with anyone "having confidence". It's about the difference between I let* her do it* (she wanted to, and I allowed her to), and I had* her do it* (I may not have known or cared what she wanted; she did it *because I asked/forced* her to). – FumbleFingers Apr 28 '16 at 15:19
  • @FumbleFingers if so, how can I use it in my explanations... if my explanation is "I had my watch a engineer mended", it means I don't know he want to fix or not however I ask him?.... oh my GOD my foolishness – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 15:41
  • 2
    @EricHa: The usage we're talking about here is "fairly advanced" (for a learner, I mean; it's well-known to most native speakers), so it may simply be too difficult for you to grasp at this early stage in your learning. But I'll try once again... He mended my watch just says what he did (it says nothing about whether he or I wanted the watch mended, whether I asked him to do it, etc.). But I had* him mend my watch* means he mended it *because* I asked (or forced) him to do that. – FumbleFingers Apr 28 '16 at 15:50
  • @FumbleFingers oh.... I have to consider about it..... I got the point(I don't know it's right) thank you haha...... so hard english... – EricHa Apr 28 '16 at 16:09
  • @FumbleFingers wow! I got me known this. I know it is like passive voice!! I know that "My hair was cut by ( )" is same with "I had my hair cut" isn't it? thank you for your effort haha – EricHa Apr 30 '16 at 07:37

2 Answers2

3

"To have something done" can carry a lot of sub-text and hidden messages in some cases, when it is compared to alternative wording. However, In the particular case of this question, it seems to me that it is not so "loaded".

A likely meaning of this sentence is "I gave my watch to someone at the shop because it was broken; then I got it back and it was mended."

The passive phrasing of this sentence suggests that the speaker might not know (or care about) who actually did the mending. This is a typical event in modern times when we mostly interact with front-desk representatives and don't know the back-office workers... So the passive phrasing is more suitable than the alternative active "someone mended my watch for me".

laugh salutes Monica C
  • 6,163
  • 1
  • 16
  • 36
0

I had my watch mended

means that you got your watch repaired. Here, 'had' means 'got it done' and 'mended' means 'fixed/ repaired'.

In short, it simply means:

I got my watch repaired.

or

I got my watch fixed.

Varun Nair
  • 8,268
  • 7
  • 26
  • 47