5 English Lessons in One Small Sentence – Part 2

Nossa dica hoje é a continuação de 5 English Lessons in One Small Sentence, da prof. americana Kristen Hammer*. Portanto, é mais uma dica publicada em inglês. A parte 1 desta dica pode ser lida aqui. Espero que gostem da dica e a utilizem para praticar as habilidades de leitura em inglês.

Hi, guys

I know it’s been a while since I last wrote. I went to visit my family and friends in the U.S. and came back a bit tired. I think I’m ready to get back to writing again!

Remember the original sentence that I talked about was, “I will make party in Friday?” We changed this to “I’m going to make party in Friday.” This time I want to look at the verb “make” in the sentence. Vamos lá!

We do not use the verb “make” in the context of this sentence. You can’t even translate the Portuguese verb “fazer” into “do”, which is the other word in which “fazer” can be translated. We use the verb “have”, instead.

Another example of when (in English), we use “have”, instead of “make” is:

“I have an exam scheduled tomorrow at the doctor’s office.

We don’t say, “make an exam”.

Or,

“I need to have surgery next month on my knee”

We do not say “make a surgery”.

Now, on to the verbs “make” and “do”.

These verbs are commonly confused by English language learners. I will only talk about these verbs in general now, because the topic is a whole lesson in itself to teach!

So, having said that, GENERALLY speaking, the word “make” is used in activities that construct, build, or create something; normally something that you can physically touch.

  • I’m going to make some food for dinner
  • Do you want me to make you a cup of tea?
  • The kids made a cute snowman outside today!

“Do” on the other hand, is for daily activities or jobs. These normally don’t produce a physical object.

  • I need to do my leg exercises tonight.
  • My husband’s going to
 do the housework while I’m away on my trip.
  • Nobody ever wants to do the dishes! Why do I always have to? (note the exaggeration that is common for us..”nobody” and “always”.)

“Do” is also used to express general ideas, when we don’t necessarily name an activity. This form is often used with the words: “something”, “nothing”, “anything”, and, “everything”.

  • I’m so bored! I don’t have anything to do today.
  • She does everything for her husband while he just sits on the couch!
  • David’s not doing anything at the moment. Do you want me to get him for you? (note, that in the form of a question, the verb DO is an auxiliary verb here and NOT an action verb.)

There are also quite a lot of standard expressions that use the verbs “do” and “make”, called collocations [Saiba mais sobre esse assunto participando do curso Collocations – aprenda a combinar palavras em inglês]. Here are a few:

  • do your best
  • do good
  • do a favor
  • do business
  • make plans
  • make a phone call
  • make a joke
  • make a speech

Another rule about make vs. do, is that there are exceptions to this rule. In language, there always seem to be exceptions. Right? The best thing you can do, to know the difference between them, is to practice. Listen to audios, watch programs in English, or talk with a native speaker, so that you can hear them being used. Reading books also helps. Note when each verb is used, and then incorporate them into your speech.

[Leia, escute e baixe nosso podcast: The Use of MAKE and DO]

Ok, so now our original sentence is: “I’m going to have party in Friday.” There are still three errors that we need to fix! We’ll talk about them next time. Stay tuned!

See you soon!

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