Today I’m going to finish writing about the various uses of the verb “make”.
9. to choose a certain person or place for a specific role. For example:
The executives at the company decided to make Gordon the new vice president.
I’ve decided to make Toronto my new home.
10. to cause a person to have a certain feeling. For example:
Doing presentations in front of many people makes me nervous.
A: What makes you happy?
B: Spending time with my friends makes me happy.
11. to achieve a previously set goal. For example:
I don’t think we’ll make the deadline for this project.
Most of the sales people made their quotas last month, but I didn’t.
12. to cause something to happen. For example:
The company’s decision to cut salaries made many people quit.
A loud noise makes the baby cry.
13. to be of a certain quality in a certain role in the future (often used with the verb “think”). For example:
Jenny just told me she’s pregnant. I think she’ll make a wonderful mother.
Bill was just promoted to department manager, but nobody thinks he’ll make a good supervisor.
14. to add up to a certain total. For example:
Seven and four make eleven.
We have 20 people on our team and the other team has 14 members, so that makes 34 people in total.
15. to cause a certain period of time to be very positive. For example:
Thanks for giving me such a nice present. You really made my day!
It really made my year when my girlfriend told me she loved me.
16. to constitute a difference between two possible situations. For example:
It makes no difference if we finish this project on Thursday or Friday.
Yvonne’s help made a big difference with this project. I have to thank her later for her hard work.
17. to force someone to do something they don’t want to do. For example:
When I was young, my mother made me clean my room every week.
My boss is making me work on Sunday! I hate him!
18. to turn left or right. For example:
When you get to the next corner, make a left and then walk down that street for five minutes.
We need to make a right here if we’re going to the airport.
So these are the main ways we use “make” as a verb. There are other less common ways in which we use it but, in my opinion, these are the most useful ones. I know that sometimes the definitions are hard to understand, so I think it’s better to focus on the examples. My advice, as always, is to memorize the example sentences and then change the small details to make new sentences.
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