Difference between DO and MAKE | Learning English Grammar

DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DO AND MAKE?

Asked by @ Frank Olivier (Community Student)

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Answered by @ Elo Kasia

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DO vs MAKE: The Difference between DO and MAKE in English (120+ Common Collocations with DO & MAKE)

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Difference between DO and MAKE

Question Time: DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DO AND MAKE?

  @ Frank Olivier , Thank you for your question.

  As usual, I will try to explain the difference using simple language and plenty of examples.

“Do” and “make” have a similar meaning and are very often confused in English, but I will show you some most common expressions so that learning them will become easier.

Basic Difference Between DO and MAKE

• Use DO for actions, obligations, and repetitive tasks.
• Use MAKE for creating or producing something, and for actions you choose to do.
• DO generally refers to the action itself (shopping, cleaning, homework), and MAKE usually refers to the result (breakfast, a sandwich, a mistake). There are some exceptions to this rule but this difference is worth remembering.

I have already talked about common expressions with do. Below you will find the most common expressions with “make”

FOOD

• make breakfast/lunch/dinner
  I’m making dinner – it’ll be ready in about ten minutes.

• make a sandwich/ a salad/ a piece of toast
  Could you make me a turkey sandwich?

• make a cup of tea/ coffee/ hot chocolate, etc.
  Would you like me to make you a cup of tea?

• make a reservation
  I’ve made a reservation for 7:30 at our favourite restaurant.

MONEY

• make money
  I enjoy my job, but I don’t make very much money.

• make a profit
  The new company made a profit within its first year.

• make a fortune
  He made a fortune after his book hit #1 on the bestseller list.

• make $_______
  I made $250 selling my old CDs on the internet.

RELATIONSHIPS

• make friends
  It’s hard to make friends when you move to a big city.

• make love (= have sex)
  The newlyweds made love on the beach during their honeymoon.

• make a pass at (= flirt with someone)
  My best friend’s brother made a pass at me – he asked if I was single and tried to get my phone number.

• make fun of someone (= tease / mock someone)
  The other kids made fun of Jimmy when he got glasses, calling him “four eyes.”

• make up (= resolve a problem in a relationship)
  Karen and Jennifer made up after the big fight they had last week.

COMMUNICATION

• make a phone call
  Please excuse me – I need to make a phone call.

• make a joke
  He made a joke, but it wasn’t very funny and no one laughed.

• make a complaint
  We made a complaint with our internet provider about their terrible service, but we still haven’t heard back from them.

• make a confession
  I need to make a confession: I was the one who ate the last piece of cake.

• make a speech
  The company president made a speech about ethics in the workplace.

• make a suggestion, recommendation, comment
  Can I make a suggestion? I think you should cut your hair shorter – it’d look great on you!

• make an excuse
  When I asked him if he’d finished the work, he started making excuses about how he was too busy.

PLANS & PROGRESS

• make plans
  We’re making plans to travel to Australia next year.

• make a mistake
  You made a few mistakes in your calculations – the correct total is $5430, not $4530.

• make progress
  My students are making good progress. Their spoken English is improving a lot.

• make up your mind (= decide)
  Should I buy a desktop or a laptop computer? I can’t make up my mind.

• make a list
  I’m making a list of everything we need for the wedding: invitations, decorations, a cake, a band, the dress…

• make sure (= confirm)
  Can you make sure we have enough copies of the report for everybody at the meeting?

• make a difference
  Getting eight hours of sleep makes a big difference in my day. I have more energy!

Study these examples and follow our *TT exercises to practise the difference between do and make which will help you achieve fluency in using these common English verbs and collocations.

Make sure you follow our Daily *TT exercises to practise in our ever growing “English Grammar and Speaking Academy“.

Check my other articles here: All English Time Ask Elo – Learning Articles

Elo Kasia Community Mentor for ” English Grammar and Speaking Academy“.

Director at Eloquent Learning Online, educational institution based in the UK. www.eloquentlearning.com.

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