To Do And To Make

To do and to make The verbs do and make are often confused by nonnative speakers. • •

do often has the meaning of “perform a routine or assigned activity.” make usually has the sense of producing or creating something.

do your homework do your best do business with do the ironing, washing, cleaning, housework do the dishes do exercises do a favor do research do your job

but… make a donation—make a contribution (in class) make a mistake--make an error make friends with make money make a noise make peace—make war make a plan make a promise make a speech

make a turn make a comparion make a decision (the British “take” decisions) make a discovery

and… To make matters worse, one expression has both! “Make do” means to manage with what is available. (I couldn’t find any cous cous in the store, so I had to make do with rice. I can’t afford to buy a new car this year, so I’m going to have to make do with my old Ford for another year.)

Two idiomatic expressions: When you ask someone what they do, you are asking what their job is. (I asked Anwar what he does and he said he works at Dunkin’ Donuts.) When you ask someone what they make or how much they make, you are asking how much money they earn. (How much do you make at the doughnut shop?) By the way, it is very rude to ask an American directly how much they make. You can ask them what they do, but not what they make!

Do or Make Use a form of do or make to complete these sentences. Remember, both do and make are irregular verbs:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

do does did done doing make makes made made making It took a long time, but finally the committee _________ the decision to let Ron stay in school. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can _________ the dishes with this cut on my hand. When I pointed out that the phone company had misspelled my name, they apologized for ____________ that mistake. Would you please _______ me a favor and drive me to the dentist. To get to the library, go down this street and ________ a right turn at the corner.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Kinsey got up early and ______ her exercises before breakfast. It was difficult, but after a few weeks in the U.S. Anwar began to ________ a few friends. Don’t _______ promises you can’t keep! Do you know how much Jack _______ at his new job? I didn’t even know he had a new job. What is he _________ now? Prof. Klein was honored for ________ research into deadly diseases. I try to _______ my homework before dinner everyday. My neighbor always yells at my children for _________ noise on Saturday mornings. Carla always tries to speak in class; she knows she has to _______ a contribution. I was _________ the dishes when I ________ a discovery: the plastic dishes don’t float. Your boss will appreciate it if you just _______ your job well. Who _______ the ironing at your house? Which is easier, _________ peace or ________ war? Everyone in the class had to ________ a speech last semester. After you _________ this activity, check with your partner to see if you ________ any errors.

Do or Make Use a form of do or make to complete these sentences. Remember, both do and make are irregular verbs:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

do does did done doing make makes made made making It took a long time, but finally the committee _made_ the decision to let Ron stay in school. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can _do_ the dishes with this cut on my hand. When I pointed out that the phone company had misspelled my name, they apologized for _making_ that mistake. Would you please _do_ me a favor and drive me to the dentist. To get to the library, go down this street and _make_ a right turn at the corner. Kinsey got up early and _did_ her exercises before breakfast. It was difficult, but after a few weeks in the U.S. Anwar began to _make_ a few friends. Don’t _make_ promises you can’t keep! Do you know how much Jack _makes_ at his new job? I didn’t even know he had a new job. What is he _do_ now? Prof. Klein was honored for _doing_ research into deadly diseases.

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

I try to _do_ my homework before dinner everyday. My neighbor always yells at my children for _making_ noise on Saturday mornings. Carla always tries to speak in class; she knows she has to _make_ a contribution. I was _doing_ the dishes when I _made_ a discovery: the plastic dishes don’t float. Your boss will appreciate it if you just _do_ your job well. Who _does or did_ the ironing at your house? Which is easier, _making_ peace or _making_ war? Everyone in the class had to _make_ a speech last semester. After you _do_ this activity, check with your partner to see if you _made_ any errors.

Pronouncing the -ed Ending There are 3 ways to pronounce -ed at the end of verbs. The only time you add a syllable is when the base form of the verb ends with a -t or -d: start  started fold  folded [star tid] [fol did]

For all other verbs, there is no additional syllable when you add -ed. The final sound of the verb is changed, however, to a t or a d. Final sound is changed to t when last sound of verb is: k, ck, ch, sh, s, x, p, f

Final sound is changed to d when last sound of verb is: m, n, l, z, b, g, r, v

talk  talked [talkt] check  checked [chekt] search  searched [searcht] flash  flashed [flasht] kiss  kissed [kist] hex  hexed [hext] stop  stopped [stopt]

blame  blamed [blamd] plan  planned [pland] pull  pulled [puld] buzz  buzzed [buzd] rub  rubbed [rubd] change  changed (changd] roar  roared [roard]

fluff  fluffed [fluft]

save  saved [savd]

Pronouncing the -ed Ending Indicate how the -ed ending for each of the following would be pronounced:

1. watch -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 2. look -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 3. need -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 4. fill -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 5. help -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 6. count -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 7. push -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 8. pull -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 9. rest -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 10. raise -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 11. watch -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 12. believe -id _______ -t _______ -d _______ 13. ask -id _______ -t _______ -d _______

Red List: Irregular Verbs The past tense of verbs is normally formed by adding -ed to the base form of the verb: ask-->asked However, many common verbs have irregular past forms. Here is a list of some of these verbs. It is useful to memorize this list. Base form become begin bet bite

Past tense became began bet bit

Base form lend let lie lose

Past Tense lent let lay lost

bleed blow break bring build buy catch choose come cost cut dig do eat fall feed feel fight find fly forget get give go grow have hear hide hit hold hurt

bled blew broke brought built bought caught chose came cost cut dug did ate fell fed felt fought found flew forgot got gave went grew had heard hid hit held hurt

mean meet pay put read ride ring rise run say see sell send shake shoot sing sit sleep speak spend stand steal swim take teach tear tell think throw wear win write

meant met paid put read rode rang rose ran said saw sold sent shook shot sang sat slept spoke spent stood stole swam took taught tore told thought threw wore won wrote

Green List: Irregular Verbs Base Form

Present Participle

Simple Past

Past Participle

bear beat

bearing beating

bore beat

borne/born beaten

become begin bend bet bid bind bite bleed blow break breed bring build burst buy catch choose come cost creep cut dig do draw eat fall feed feel fight find fit forbid forget freeze get give

becoming beginning bending betting bidding binding biting bleeding blowing breaking breeding bringing building bursting buying catching choosing coming costing creeping cutting digging doing drawing eating falling feeding feeling fighting finding fitting forbidding forgetting freezing getting giving

became began bent bet bid bound bit bled blew broke bred brought built burst bought caught chose came cost crept cut dug did drew ate fell fed felt fought found fit forbid forgot froze got gave

become begun bent bet bid bound bitten bled blown broken bred brought built burst bought caught chose come cost crept cut dug done drawn eaten fallen fed felt fought found fit forbid forgotten frozen gotten given

go grind grow hang have hear hide hit hold hurt keep know lay lead leave lend let lie light lose mean meet pay put quit read ride ring rise run say see sell send shake shoot

going grinding growing hanging having hearing hiding hitting holding hurting keeping knowing laying leading leaving lending letting lying lighting losing meaning meeting paying putting quitting reading riding ringing rising running saying seeing selling sending shaking shooting

went ground grew hung had heard hid hit held hurt kept knew laid led left lent let lay lit/lighted lost meant met Paid put quit read rode rang rose ran said saw sold sent shook shot

gone ground grown hung had heard hidden hit held hurt kept known laid led left lent let lain lit/lighted lost meant met paid put quit read ridden rung risen run said seen sold sent shaken shot

show sing sit sleep slide speak spend stand steal sweep swim take teach tear tell think throw understand wake wear win wind write

showing singing sitting sleeping sliding speaking spending standing stealing sweeping swimming taking teaching tearing telling thinking throwing understanding waking wearing winning winding writing

showed sang sat slept slid spoke spent stood stole swept swam took taught tore told thought threw understood woke/waked wore won wound wrote

shown/showed sung sat slept slid spoken spent stood stolen swept swum taken taught torn told thought thrown understood woken/waked worn won wound written

Have we left anything out? Let me know. David Tillyer [email protected]

GWYNI Irregular Verbs

Fill in the sentences below with the past tense of verbs you select from this list:

run see feel sing sleep eat get go stop buy drive 1. Andy _______ to Chicago last week. 2. Andy _______ from Pittsburgh to Chicago in less than eight hours. 3. He _______ and _______ a pizza in Cleveland. 4. He was tired so he _______ to himself to keep himself awake. 5. Finally, he _______ and _______ for an hour in Toledo. 6. He _______ a little sick for a little while. 7. That was probably because he _______ the pizza too fast in Cleveland. 8. He _______ into a little traffic close to Chicago. 9. He _______ to Chicago at about 7:30 p.m. 10. He _______ the sunset in the distance.

Look at the list again.