[Grammar] I had the clock work/ working.

[wotcha22]

1. I had the clock work.

2. I had the clock working.

3. I had my car wait outside.

4. I had my car waiting outside.


Hi teachers. First of all I want to know if all of the sentences are grammatical.

If they are, how are they different in meaning?

 

[bhaisahab]

1 and 3 are not natural. 2 is not great either.

 

[emsr2d2]

I have no problem with 3. It sounds like AmE to me - it's not really used in BrE but it would mean "I arranged for the driver of my car to wait outside". It's the same construction as "I had my butler pick me up at 3am".

 

[canadian45]

I agree that #3 is fine and that the focus is really on the unmentioned driver.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

#3 is not fine! At least, it's not American English. "I had my car wait outside" means that I instructed my car to wait. Sorry, it just doesn't work. About the others:

- #1 means that I gave my clock a job. That makes no sense.

- #2 means that I fixed the clock. That's fine if that's what you're trying to say.

- #4 means that my car was outside and I intended to return to it soon. Again, that's fine if that's what you mean.

 

[MikeNewYork]

For me, 2, 3, 4 are fine in AmE. In 3, there were instructions given to the driver.

 

[BobK]

1 and 3 are not natural. 2 is not great either.

But as Ems said, 2 is OK if you're mending (or have mended) the clock. My choice of tenses depends on intonation.:

Examples:

'After a day's work I had the clock working.' [Falling intonation indicates the finality and success of the exercise.]

'After a day's work, I had the clock working, but in a limited sense. It took me a further two weeks of tinkering before I had it keeping time.' [The tone on 'working' falls, but rises again to indicate that there's more to follow.]

b

 

[Tdol]

#3 is not fine! At least, it's not American English. "I had my car wait outside" means that I instructed my car to wait. Sorry, it just doesn't work.

It works fine for me if you have a driver.