O jeito mais descomp licado de aprender ingls

Ingls na Ponta da Lngua

The Use of Make and Do

Hello, hello Ingls na Ponta da Lngua Fans and Friends. Here we are again with another episode of our podcast. My names Denilso de Lima, Im an ESL/EFL teacher trainer and book author in Brazil, and the guy responsible for the blog Ingls na Ponta da Lngua. Before talking about todays tip I want to thank all of you guys who are giving ideas to make our podcasts better and better. I am sure this is a fantastic way to help you guys improve your English language skills. Remember that you can download the MP3 and PDF files for the podcasts on denilsodelima.blogspot.com. Today, I want to tell you about the words make and do. In Portuguese, they both can be translated as fazer. Of course, there are other meanings, but people in Brazil usually think that fazer is the only option. Because of this, its common to get confused about using one word or the other. That is, in Brazil, we usually say fazer um acordo. So, English language learners get stuck and keeps asking if they should use make or do in this combination. In other words, should they say make an agreement or do an agreement? Well, the answer for that is make an agreement. Why is that? Because in English the word make collocates with the word agreement. So, youd better say make an agreement. Thats how they naturally use these words, so you have to learn the whole combination (collocation) and thats it. English language learners and teachers tend to focus on the words make and do. In my opinion, this is a huge mistake. I believe the focus should be on the other words. For example, imagine you want to say fazer uma reclamao in English. Instead of asking about make or do, you should focus on the word complaint. That means you have to look up the word complaint in a dictionary and see what is used in there. If you have a very good dictionary, youll learn that in English they say make a complaint. If you focus on the other word - the main word -, youre going to learn some interesting things. One of these is related to the word party. In
Copyright Denilso de Lima http://denilsodelima.blogspot.com Este material pode ser reproduzido desde que no seja modificado

O jeito mais descomp licado de aprender ingls

Ingls na Ponta da Lngua

Portuguese, we say fazer uma festa. But in English, they usually say throw a party, give a party, organize a party, have a party. They dont say make a party or do a party. These combinations are not common. You have to learn that the most common combination - or collocation - is throw a party. Keep this in mind: Always focus on the other word. Do not worry about make or do. Let me give you another example. You have to say fazer a tarefa de casa. You know that tarefa de casa in English is homework. So, what you have to do is get a good dictionary, look up the word homework in it, and find out that in English they say do the homework. See? What you have to do is to focus on the other word. If you focus on make or do, youll never learn how to combine the words properly in English. In case you want more, lets try this with the word coffee. In Portuguese we say fazer caf. In English, they say make coffee. How about fazer uma confisso? In English, its make a confession. If you have to say fazer uma boa ao; then, in English, youll have to say do a good action. And how do they say fazer um favor? Easy! Its do a favor. My point here is: there are no rules to help you with that. Its the way words are naturally combined that will help you learn when you use make or do. Some people try to create rules for this. One of these crazy rules says that if the thing is created, manufactured, etc., you have to use make. According to this rule, you say make dinner (fazer o jantar), make a cake (fazer um bolo), make a salad (fazer uma salada), etc. When it comes to the word do, they say that do has to be used to describe an activity: do the dishes (lavar a loua), do a translation(fazer uma traduo), do exercises (fazer exerccios). Now, think about the word bed. In Portuguese, we say fazer a cama. Its an activity. So, according to the rule, you have to say do the bed. Thats where the rule fails! In English, the correct way to say fazer a cama is make the bed. That really shows that the rule doesnt work. In a nutshell, always focus on the other word to be used with make or do. There are no magic rules. There are no magic tips. There is no magic at all. Noticing how words combine is the only thing which will really help you. Thats whats going to make the whole difference. Thats all for today. Have a nice day, guys. Take care!

Copyright Denilso de Lima http://denilsodelima.blogspot.com Este material pode ser reproduzido desde que no seja modificado