Lesson 2 of 125 min read
Make & Do
Make and do overlap in translation for many learners. The safest solution is to learn frequent verb-and-noun combinations as complete phrases.
Understand the pattern
Make often appears with a produced result, such as a decision or a change. Do often appears with activities, such as research or homework. This distinction is a useful starting point, not a rule that generates every correct combination. You make an effort even though effort describes activity, so the noun partner still needs attention.
Learn the phrase's grammar as well as the verb. Make progress uses an uncountable noun in this ordinary sense, whereas make a mistake needs an article in the singular. Do research does not normally become do a research when referring to the activity; conduct a study is a countable alternative with a different noun.
In writing, a single precise verb may also work: decide instead of make a decision, or change instead of make a change. Choose according to sentence structure and focus. Do not stretch a response with extra words merely to display a collocation; the expression must help convey the intended idea.
Language in context
| Word or pattern | Meaning or use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| make an effort | Try deliberately | She made an effort to explain the changes. |
| make progress | Move towards a goal | The team made progress on the project. |
| do research | Investigate a question | The students did research on local transport. |
| do damage | Cause harm | The leak did damage to the ceiling. |
Worked example
Reason through the choice
Correct: We did a progress after making research on the problem.
Answer: We made progress after doing research on the problem.
Progress combines with make and is uncountable here. Research combines naturally with do when naming the activity. You could also write We progressed after investigating the problem, but that changes the grammatical form of both ideas.
Try it yourself
Write your answers before opening the key. For open responses, the suggested answer is one possible version; keep the meaning and check the target pattern.
- Complete: I ___ a mistake in the booking form. (did / made)
- Correct: They made their homework before dinner.
- Rewrite They tried hard to keep the noise down using effort.
Check answers and explanations
1. Made. Make a mistake is the conventional phrase.
2. They did their homework before dinner. Do is the usual partner of homework; the possessive is appropriate.
3. They made an effort to keep the noise down. Keep an before the singular noun effort and to before the intended action.
Use it in your PTE preparation
PTE Academic
Use do research when talking about an activity and make a comparison when describing an analytical step. Where an academic passage uses a more specific verb, such as investigate or compare, preserve its meaning rather than substituting mechanically.
PTE Core
Practise phrases useful in messages: make an appointment, make a complaint, do the shopping and do someone a favour. Choose the phrase that matches the action; making a complaint and asking a question are not the same purpose.
Recall and transfer
Create two columns for make and do, then fill them without reading the table. Add a sentence to any phrase you placed incorrectly. On your next review, start from a situation, such as apologising for an error, rather than from the verb alone.