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As a non native speaker, I was taught to use the causative form like this:

if there's a subject: I'll have her send over the files.

if there's no subject: I'll have the files sent over.

And now I'm confused, because many a time I hear this line "I'll have you arrested" and since there is a subject, I wonder why it's that way. Could one say I'll have the police arrest you?

Barmar
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zoli
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  • I'm not aware of this rule because, as a British English speaker, I would say "I'll get her to send over the files". One could say "I'll have the police arrest you", but it would be unnecessarily long-winded because it's understood that it's the police who make arrests. – Kate Bunting Nov 04 '18 at 09:18
  • Yes, you could, but there seems little point since normally one can only be arrested by the police (though hearing the word "police" does put the fear of God into some people!). Syntactically, "I'll have you arrested" is passive, while "I'll have the police arrest you" is active. Your other examples are OK: the first specifies who is to send over the files, while the other being a 'short' passive leaves it open as to who will do the sending. – BillJ Nov 04 '18 at 09:53
  • Thank you Kate Bunting and BillJ, you are both amazing – zoli Nov 04 '18 at 10:42
  • Sure, when you don't want or can't do it yourself. You'll have someone else do something. – Lambie Nov 04 '18 at 17:01
  • If you're hearing the line "I'll have you arrested" a lot, maybe it's time to change your behavior? ^_^ – Robusto Nov 05 '18 at 21:26

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