get the door open//opened//to open

Tom pulled very hard, but he just couldn't get the door ______.

A. open B. to open C. opened


Hi,
The above is a stand-alone question. I think the answer is C, but the given answer is B. So, is there something wrong with the given answer? Thanks.

Both A and B are possible.

The double slashes are wrong.

Rover_KE said:

Both A and B are possible.

The double slashes are wrong.

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But why are A and B possible? And why doesn't C work?

Piscean said:

C would be possible only if Tom was trying to get someone else to open the door.

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OK, let's look at more similar patterns:

Tom couldn't get the door painted.
Tom couldn't get the job done.

Are the above two right? If yes, then I really couldn't see why it doesn't sound right to say "Tom couldn't get the door opened?"

It's a bad question. All three answers are possible in some contexts.

GoesStation said:

It's a bad question. All three answers are possible in some contexts.

Click to expand...

Thanks,
but I still can't figure out why A is correct. Isn't "open" an adjective, describing the state? But here, I think we need the p.p. of a verb to indicate "action" just like "get the door painted."

LewisJian said:

Thanks,
but I still can't figure out why A is correct. Isn't "open" an adjective, describing the state? But here, I think we need the p.p. of a verb to indicate "action" just like "get the door painted."

Click to expand...

A is idiomatic in AmE at least. I'm not sure how to describe the grammatical function of open​ in "I can't get the door open", but we frequently say it that way.

In "I can't get the door open", "open" is an adjective. What you're saying is that, for some reason, you cannot make the door change from its current state (closed) to the state you want it in (open).

I can't get the jar open = I can't open the [closed] jar.
I can't get the carpet clean = I've tried but the carpet is still dirty.

emsr2d2 said:

In "I can't get the door open", "open" is an adjective. What you're saying is that, for some reason, you cannot make the door change from its current state (closed) to the state you want it in (open).

I can't get the jar open = I can't open the [closed] jar.
I can't get the carpet clean = I've tried but the carpet is still dirty.

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Thanks, by the way, is it also right to say the following?

I can't get someone to open the jar.
I can't get the jar opened.
I can't get someone clean the carpet.
I can't get the carpet cleaned.

I think the third sentence needs "to clean".

LewisJian said:

Thanks, by the way, is it also right to say the following?

I can't get someone to open the jar.
I can't get the jar opened.
I can't get someone to clean the carpet.
I can't get the carpet cleaned.

Click to expand...

With the one correction in red above, you can say all of them, but they all have a different meaning. They all mean that you have been unable to find someone else to do the task for you.

I can't get this jar open = I have tried and I am unable to open it.
I can't get this jar opened = I have been unable to find someone else to open the jar/I have asked several people to try and they have all failed to open the jar.

I can't get the carpet clean = I have tried and I have been unable to make the carpet clean.
I can't get the carpet cleaned = I have been unable to find a person to clean the carpet for me OR It is impossible (for some other reason) to even attempt to clean the carpet.