A Usage of させる without a に
In my textboox (Tobira), there is this sentence:
ショーンは日本語のレポートを終わらせるために、今週はとても大変そうだった。
According to what I know by now, させる form is used if someone makes someone else do something for him. If the first person (in this case, the teacher) is supposed to be mentioned before the は, and the other person (in this case, Shaun) is supposed to be after the に. Something like that:
（先生は）*ショーンに* 日本語のレポートを一週間に終わらせました。
But there is は instead of に in my textboox's sentence... Is there a reason that は comes instead of に?
Thanks in advance!
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 7
2
終わる ｖｓ 終わら・せる。
It is "by nature vs by force,"
（自然に spontaneously, without nobody's effort）終わる vs （強制的に, by force）終わらせる。
ショーンは日本語のレポートを終わらせるために
→ ショーンは日本語のレポートを（強制的に／力づくで／by force）終わらせるために
→ so that ショーン forced his レポート end.
「一週間で終わらせました」 implies that:
”普通に、自然にやっていたのでは、一週間で終わらない。二週間とか一ヶ月とかかかる”
”そこを＜強制的に／人為的に＞一週間で終わらせた”
※ The Japanese language is always worried about whether it is "自然に (it happens) or 人為的に(someone does)“
e.g,
このたび、入社した田中です (it is 人為的, someone does something )
vs
このたび、入社することになりました田中です（it is 自然発生的、it happens).
※ Strangely, "～させる(by force)” sometimes turn to mean something like "passive" attitude
子供の希望を認め、海外に行かせる
やらせておけ
足を波に洗わせる
Someone/something 'forces' -> I have to receive the result of its forcing -> passive.
It is like the English word "let".
2
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0
どういたしまして。
0
なるほどね！
あれがとうございます :)
0
"終わらせる" doesn't mean "make someone finish something". It means "make something be finished".
If you should like to mean the former, you could say "終えさせる".
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