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Kristin
Make sb. doing sth.? 'By highlighting his failure in a lighthearted way, G. had the audience eating out of his hand.' I thought this structure to normally be "have sb do sth". In which cases am I to use "have sb doing sth" like in the example above?
Aug 29, 2020 12:59 PM
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Answers · 2
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Sorry, Michael, to comment only now! Thank you so much for your explanation and your efforts!
August 30, 2020
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It's really a slightly different structure. This has no sense of to make, to force, to oblige somebody to do something. In this case, "he has the audience eating ..." means what he is doing leads the audience to eat ... So. He tells jokes; he has them laughing. He suffers unjustified misfortune; he has them sad. He scores a goal; he has them cheering. The audience responds to him, but not with the sense of command or obligation that comes with "have sb do sth". He gets the reaction he wants by his behaviour, but not in a direct command way. They like him. So they are compliant. Does this make sense? I hope so.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/have-someone-eating-out-of-your-hand
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/have-sb-eating-out-of-your-hand
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/have-sb-eating-out-of-your-hand
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/eat+out+of+hand
August 29, 2020
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Kristin
Language Skills
English, German
Learning Language
English
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