Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[leslie]

Hi,

There's an English sentence pattern: have+it+past participle. If I want to express an idea that I may not be a good cook, but I manage to make my food at least look delicious. What is the natural way to say that in English? Should I say:

1. I want to make the food look delicious. Or,
2. I want to make the food looked delicious. Or,
3. I want to have the food look delicious., Or,
4. I want to have the food looked delicious.

A. If none of the above sounds natural to English speaking people, what is the natural way to say it?
B. Could anyone please help explain the usage of have+it+past participle and make+object+ V in a simple way?

Many thanks in advance.

Leslie
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Less Is Blessed

[CP]

1. I want to make the food look delicious. Fine. I want the food to look delicious.

2. I want to make the food looked delicious. No. Not a natural sentence.

3. I want to have the food look delicious. Fine. Means just about the same as no. 1.

4. I want to have the food looked delicious. No. Not a natural sentence.

For have + object + verb, use the bare infinitive, as in 3. Then it means that you arrange for the object to verb -- I arrange for the food to look delicious.

Or, use the past participle instead of the bare infinitive, but then it makes it a passive situation. I want to have the food distributed to the poor. I want the food to be distributed to the poor.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[leslie]

Thank you , CP. I understand it now. Thanks!

Leslie
_________________
Less Is Blessed