I made him go vs I had him go?

[keannu]

Do causative verbs such as make, have, get, allow have all different nuances?

ex)I made him go - My grammar books says this is almost an forceful order
I had him go - Is this a light direction?
I got him to go - the lightest direction?
I let him go - I think it's a permission.

 

[BobK]

Your book's right about the first. 'I made him go' is either a reported command, or an account of physically intervening. 'He never does his homework because Facebook is too distracting. So I sat in the same room and made him do it.'

So 'I made him...' (he didn't want to); I let him...' (he did want to). 'Had him....' and 'Got him to...' are in between those extremes, but I wouldn't rank them - perhaps, if forced, I'd make 'had him...' more urgent than 'got him to...' (which has an implication of cajoling or asking a favour).

b

 

[Rover_KE]

'I had my secretary cancel all my calls' (it's her job to carry out my reasonable orders).

'I got my brother to buy me a bottle of cider' (I used a bit of gentle persuasion as he didn't really want to at first).

Rover