Collocations with make, do and take.
by Glyn James
collocations, make, do, take, grammar, vocabulary
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warmer
Verbs in English can be categorised in many different ways. Have a look at the sentences below. Can you explain the different categories of these verbs?
01: I like sunny weather
02: I watch Youtube most evenings
03: I have seen this movie before
04: I usually wake up at 7:00
05: I can swim
06: I often make mistakes
Many languages have a dominant 'general purpose' verb.
French: faire
Spanish: hacer
German: machen
Russian: делать
Chinese: 做
Japanese: する
In English, our most dominant general purpose verb is DO ... but we sometimes use MAKE.
So let's ask a brutal question, what is the difference between DO and MAKE?
Commentary
You might have some feeling that these verbs are semantically different. This feeling might be passive, i.e. you've seen these words used a lot and you feel that they are somehow different, or they might be cognitive, i.e. a teacher / Youtube video has explained some difference between them.
Many resources tell us that ...
- make is used when we create or produce something. Like, Tesla makes electric vehicles, or I'm going to make a cake this weekend.
- do is used when we perform tasks. Like do your homework, or do the dishes.
This explanation can certainly be useful, but might not always lead us to the correct usage of these verbs ... as we might see below. Unfortunately, it's probably best to learn these words as collocations (that's just the way it is)
Practice
Complete the following verb phrases with MAKE or DO
01: ____ a mistake
02: ____ smb a favour
03: ____ yoga
04: ____ your bed
05: ____ a decision
06: ____ a plan
07: ____ your best
08: ____ business (with smb)
09: ____ a profit / a loss
10: ____ research
make
do
an effort
a suggestion
a choice
a fortune
friends with smb
a complaint
a profit / loss
a phonecall
a reservation
a list
a wish
a discovery
a promise
peace (with smb)
the laundry
the dishes
the shopping
business (with smb)
your hair
homework
your duty
smb a favour
your nails
your best
research
the ironing
a test
exercise
Activation: quickfire questions
Do you do exercise every day?
How often do you do housework? Is there any housework you particularly dislike doing?
How often do you notice when other students make grammar mistakes?
Do you think we should do a test sometime soon?
When you eat out, do you always make a reservation?
Do you find it easy to make friends with new people?
Do you know any men who like doing their nails?
How long does it take you to do your hair before a night out?
Have you heard of any impressive discoveries that have recenty been made?
Do you know anyone who's made a fortune in cryptocurrency?
Have you ever worked for a company that consistently made a loss?
Another word for a general purpose verb is a delexical verb. do and make are not the only ones in English. Another common one is take.
Can you think of any collocations with take?
Note: we are looking for take + noun combos, not phrasal verbs.
Your list
My list
take a break
take a chance
take a look (at smth)
take a nap
take a seat
take a shower
take a trip
take action
take advantage (of smb)
take smb's advice
take an exam
take an interest (in smth)
take notes
take part (in smth)
take responsibility (for smth)
take a risk
take your time
take turns (doing smth)
take care (of smb)
take a photo
In how many of these sentences can we replace TAKE with HAVE without changing the meaning dramatically?
activation
- Do you know anyone who really loves taking risks?
- Do you think taking too many photos / videos at a concert spoils the experience?
- Do you prefer to take a shower in the morning, in the evening or both?
- In speaking tasks, do you prefer an interactive back-and-forth or taking turns to speak?
- Have you ever had to take care of a friend's pet?
- Is there anything better in this world than taking a nap?
- Do you tend to take more breaks if you're working from home or working in the office?
- Do you think it's important to take notes if you're studying English online?
- Have you ever taken part in any kind of public performance?
Phrasal verbs
No analysis of make / do / take would be complete without looking at some phrasal verbs
make up (with smb)
make smth up
make up for smth
make out
make away with smth
do smth up
do away with smth
do smth over
do smb in
do without smth
take smth up
take after smb
take smb on
take smth apart
take smth off
How many of these phrasal verbs are you familiar with?
Are there any that you've never heard of?
Can you work together and figure out the meaning of all of them? 😊