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Make - Do

The difference between make and do

For many English learners Make and Do is a difficult topic. It is difficult to know when which one is used. There are some general rules, but then there are also exceptions or sometimes the expression doesn’t fit in with any of the rules. Let’s continue with the rules.

When to use Make?

 Explanations Examples
Make for: construction, creation, fabrication, invention, production.
  • They made a bridge
  • He makes films
  • In that factory they make chairs
Make for: abstract but new things
  • She made a decision
  • They made an agreement
  • I’m making plans for the future
Make for: preparing food
  • I make a cake every Saturday
  • I make breakfast for myself every morning
  • I sometimes make new meals

Exceptions Make

We don’t say to make damage, but TO DO DAMAGE
We don’t say to make a favour, but TO DO A FAVOUR

When to use Do?

ExplanationsExamples
Do for: domestic tasks
  • Peter does the cooking
  • Mary does the ironing
  • Tom does the gardening
  • Susan does the cleaning
Do for: general activities (often routine tasks)
  • To do business
  • To do exercise
Do with adverbs, pronouns
  • He does well
  • We do badly
  • To do so

Cases of Make and Do

Explanations
Examples
Make an exam: The teacher makes an exam, he creates it
Do an exam: I am the student and I do the exam
  • I do/make an exam
  • I do/make a puzzle
  • I do/make a course
  • I do/make a test
  • I do/make a Sudoku
In some cases an expression goes with make, but if you talk about this action as a routine task, you can say do.*
  • I make a phone call/I do the phone calls
  • I make the beds/ I do the beds
  • I make breakfast/ I do breakfast


*The correct expression is to make a phone call”, but if you talk about it as a routine task you can say do. For example: “At work I always do the phone calls, in fact I have to make a phone call now.”
So remember, that when it is both a routine and something new, make is always correct, but do can sometimes be used.

Exercises Make - Do

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