Using Do and Make in English

The phrasal verbs or verbs whose meanings vary because of a preposition added after it are often misinterpreted in English. The new speaker often translates from the English into his own language, looking for an equivalence. The best way to teach phrasal verbs with do is to teach them in conjunction with make and so he can make the difference between what his old language would express and how he can use the new language. Before teaching these phrasal verbs it is wise just to teach the use of make and do regarding activities and then introduce these verbs for expressions that can be taken figuratively.

Do is used for a variety of activities that most often are abstract as in ‘we do our homework regularly’. Homework is not to be taken as one and the same as the copybook where the writing is done; doing ones homework is taken as the act of working out an exercise and noting answers or elaborating an explanation for the material in question. So we do not make our homework even though there is a physical activity to get the work done. We ‘make our beds’ insteading of ‘doing them’ because we start out with an uncovered mattress that gets covered by a sheet that in turn gets covered by a blanket and then by a bedspread. Make then has a more constructive sense as one ends up with a product that is different from the starting elements

Once the phrasal verb is mastered an expression using that verb may be taught but the student should not be disappointed if the meaning varies once an additional word is tagged on to the phrasal verb. An example could be the use of make with up as the couple made up on the weekend after their argument. The same phrasal verb can be understood as “made up to someone” where someone can be substituted with a pronoun and the verb can also be used in the present. Made up has a variety of figurative meanings such as inventing a role in child play or to put on a costume and appear to be someone else. To make up to someone is to ask for forgiveness in a way not to be confused with making out or another phrasal verb with make.