| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| Do you remember the focus sentence from the dialogue? |
| How often do we have the equipment serviced? |
| This sentence follows the pattern here. |
| This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow. |
| have + object + past participle |
| This sentence pattern — “have + object + past participle” — is used to talk about arranging for someone else to do a service or task. In business settings, this structure is especially useful when referring to professional services, maintenance, or tasks that are regularly outsourced or scheduled. |
| Let’s go part by part. |
| “Have” is the main verb that introduces the idea of arranging or requesting a service. It shows that the subject is not doing the action themselves, but is responsible for making it happen. |
| The object is the thing receiving the service — usually a product, piece of equipment, or area of work. |
| The past participle is the form of the verb that describes what is being done to the object — such as cleaned, repaired, serviced, delivered, etc. |
| Now let’s look at the example sentence: |
| “How often do we have the equipment serviced?” |
| Here, “have” is the main verb that expresses arranging the service. |
| “The equipment” is the object — it’s what is being worked on. |
| “Serviced” is the past participle — it tells us what action is being performed on the equipment. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| It looks like you had this account closed last year. |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| The verb “had” is the past tense of “have.” The object is “this account,” and “closed” is the past participle. Together, “had this account closed” shows that the speaker arranged for someone else to close the account. This follows the structure: have + object + past participle. |
| Next… |
| Can we meet in your office? I’m having mine painted. |
| Here, “having” is the present continuous form of “have.” The object is “mine” (meaning “my office”), and the past participle is “painted.” This means the speaker arranged for someone to paint their office. |
| Let’s try one more, |
| I had the reports sent over from the project team. |
| In this sentence, “had” is the past tense of “have,” the object is “the reports,” and “sent” is the past participle. It shows the speaker arranged for the reports to be delivered. |
| Another one. |
| Did you have your computer updated recently? |
| The question uses “have” in the form “Did you have…” The object is “your computer,” and “updated” is the past participle. This asks whether the listener arranged for someone to update their computer. |
| One last example. |
| When did we last have the copy machine serviced? |
| This uses “have” in the past question form: “did we have…” The object is “the copy machine,” and “serviced” is the past participle. The speaker is asking about the last time a service was arranged. |
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