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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.