Speaker 1: I get it. Make and do can be super confusing.
You've probably learned that both verbs mean to take an
action in some way, but for example, how do you
know when to say, make a mistake or do your homework.
That's what we're going to clear up today.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael al Ray.
Speaker 1: Thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here from
Happy English and I help people speak English better. And
this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine twenty seven. How
to use make and do in English? What's the difference? Hey,
thanks for tuning in. Today we're going to talk about
two small but mighty verbs in English, make and do.
These verbs show up everywhere, but the tricky part is
knowing when to use which one. So today we'll go
over the core difference between make and do, and I'll
give you lots of real life examples along the way. First,
let's talk about the basic idea behind these two verbs.
We use do when we talk about general actions, tasks, processes,
and responsibilities. Do is more about performing an activity, not
really creating anything new, like when Jack says, ugh, I
have to do my taxes this weekend. He's not making taxes,
he's just going through the process. Or I use usually
do the laundry on Sunday mornings. That's just a task,
something that you carry out. And here's what I say
all the time, I'll do my best to finish this
by Friday. Do my best again. There's no object being created,
its effort, it's work, it's a process. On the other hand,
we use make when we create or produce something. It
could be physical, like a cake or a sandwich, or
it could be more abstract, like a decision or a plan,
like last night I made dinner for my friends, or
Jack made a mess in the kitchen and didn't clean
it up. Again. Here's another one. I made a few
phone calls this morning to confirm our appointments, and I
need to make a decision soon about whether I'm traveling
for the holidays. So just to sum that up, use
do for actions, tasks, or things with no clear outcome.
Use make when something is created, even if it's not physical.
But I know what you're thinking. What about those weird
expressions that don't follow the logic? Yeah, I get it.
English is full of those. We call those collocations, which
means words that naturally go together, even if the grammar
rule doesn't help you. For example, we say make the bed,
not do the bed. I know that would surprise me
too when I was learning Japanese and thinking about the
same confusion. Jack makes the bed every morning, even if
it doesn't look that Neat The point is the phrase
make the bed doesn't actually mean to construct or build
the bed. Make the bed just means to arrange the
sheets and blankets neatly on the bed. Here's another collocation
with make. Jack's daughter makes a fuss every time it's bedtime.
That means she complains and resists, Totally normal for a
four year old. Now let's look at a few more
tricky cases. You can do your hair, but you make
a mess of your hair. When you do your hair,
you style your hair, maybe with a hair dryer, curlers,
or just a comb, and when you're done doing your hair,
it looks great. If you do your hair, it's a process.
But after that, when you put on your knit cap
and then take it off, you end up making a
mess of your hair. You make a mess. You create
a mess. Here are two other related do and make phrases.
You can do business with someone. When you do business,
you go through a process to buy, trade or sell
something to them and the result well, hopefully, once you
do business, you can then make money from that business.
And when I say you make money, it doesn't mean
you physically produce bills and coins. To make money means
to earn money, do business and make money. These are
just combinations that you have to learn through exposure and
practice and memorization. Here's another one that learners often mix up.
Make a mistake versus do a mistake the correct one.
Make a mistake always like ooh, I made a mistake
in the spelling of her name. When you make a mistake,
you create the mistake. It wasn't there before you made it.
Make means create. On the flip side, we always say
do homework, not make homework, Like I did my homework
on this company before the job interview. Here's the logic.
Your teacher gives you an assignment and you go through
the prom of doing that assignment. Maybe you need to
read something and then answer questions. In a sense, your
teacher makes the homework, she creates it. Then you do
the homework. You go through the process to complete it.
So like make a mistake, and do homework. There are
a lot of set phrases, idioms, and collocations with make
and do, which you just need to memorize. A really
useful one of these is can you do me a favor?
Can you do me a favor means can you help
me by doing something for me? Like, Hey, can you
do me a favor? And let me know the Wi
Fi password? I need the password and I want you
to tell me what it is, so I use can
you do me a f and let me know the
Wi Fi password. It's really important to learn these make
and do phrases in a sentence. When you do well,
just like that, it all starts to click. It's not
always about logic or grammar. It's about the set patterns
and the context those patterns are in. So what should
you do if you're not sure whether to use make
or do? My best advice, memorize the phrase without worrying
too much of the meaning of do and make. Memorize
the full phrase, make a plan, do the dishes, make
a phone call, do your best. That's how native speakers think.
We don't say hmm, is this a creating verb or
a task verb? We just remember what sounds right because
we've heard it and set it so many times, and
that's what you need to do. You need to hear
it and say it a lot. So here's your challenge
this week. Write down five things you do every day
and five things you make try using full phrases like
do the shopping, make dinner, do your best, make a list,
do exercise, make a plan, Say them out loud, and
get a feel for the rhythm. Today, I've given you
just a handful of these make and do phrases. Now
you need to work on memorizing them and remembering how
they are used. You know the context. And if you
want help practicing these and all of the other things
that we cover in this podcast, come on and join
my podcast Learner's Study Group. We meet every week to
practice the grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation from these podcast lessons.
Just click the link we are listening right now, or
visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast episode nine
to twenty seven for more info. Hey, thanks for listening,
and remember, learning another language is not easy, but it's
not impossible, and I'm here to help you on your journey.
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