ESL Podcast 18 - Make vs. Do (Part 2)

Hi! I am Marianne Raynaud from QualityTime-ESL located in Grenoble, France. It takes 3 hours by the bullet train, the super fast train to go from Paris to the French Alps. And it takes about 4 hours by car to go from Grenoble down to the Mediterranean.

Concerning “Better Speaking Skills” listeners should feel free to contact us either with questions or suggestions. My goal is to help you to learn to “speak” English without any difficult in simple but correct sentences. Many people like myself learn foreign languages by translating mentally from their own language to the language they wish to speak. For these people I think QualityTime-ESL exercises will be very useful. But it takes several weeks with many hours of practice until you feel the improvement. So please do not give up. I can assure you that with regular practice you will make great progress.

I recommend you do the exercises of “Better Speaking Skills” WITHOUT looking at the script. If you feel lost or confused you can tap the center of the control pad of your iPod three times, and the first part of the script will be displayed. However, you can also download the complete written script by going to our website QualityTime-ESL.com.

Today we will continue our practice with “make” and “do”. A foreigner, who can use “make” or “do” correctly has reached a very good level. Generally speaking we say that “make” is associated with something “concrete” and “do” with something immaterial. But this is not always true and you simply have to learn these expressions by heart.

First repeat the following expressions with the word “make” that describe ideas that are “totally abstract”. Listen and repeat.

Make a bet
Make a choice
Make a decision
Make a difference
Make a fuss
Make a good impression
Make a habit of something
Make a living
Make a name (for oneself).
Make a promise
Make a sacrifice
Make an agreement
Make an announcement
Make an appointment
Make an attempt
Make an effort
Make an escape
Make an estimate
Make an exception.
Make an excuse
Make an improvement
Make comparisons
Make friends
Make fun of someone
Make one’s bed
Make oneself heard
Make plans
Make progress
Make room for someone
Make rules
Make sense
Make someone happy
Make something known
Make the most of something
Make trouble

Now let us review expressions with “do” that are associated with “studies” or with a “habit”. Listen and repeat.
Do French
Do Chinese
Do mathematics
Do physics
Do engineering
Do drugs
Do 180 kilometers an hour

Now repeat some common “abstract” expressions” with “do”
Do a favor
Do away with
Do nothing (about it)
Do without …
How do you do?
It will do (It will be enough)
It's nothing to do with you

That was a lot of repeating, but now you are beginning to associate expressions with “make” or “do”. So let us do some oral fill in exercises with the above expressions using either “make” or “do”. In this group they are all associated with an idea that is “totally abstract”. Listen to the examples.

I say: Away with
You say: Do away with
I say: An exception
You say: Make an exception

Now you go on in the same way. Be sure to speak BEFORE I give the right answer.
Away with
Do away with
An estimate
Make an estimate
An exception
Make an exception
An excuse
Make an excuse
Nothing (about it)
Do nothing (about it)
An improvement
Make an improvement
Comparisons
Make comparisons
Friends
Make friends
Fun of someone
Make fun of someone
A favor
Do a favor
Plans
Make plans
Progress
Make progress
One’s bed
Make one’s bed
Oneself heard
Make oneself heard
Without
Do without
Room for someone
Make room for someone
Sense
Make sense
Someone happy
Make someone happy
Something known
Make something known
The most of
Make the most of
Trouble
Make trouble

Now repeat some common “abstract expressions”
How do you do?
It will do (meaning it will be enough)

Finally expressions that combine “make” and “do”:
Make do!!!!!
Make do without!!!!!

Now we will work on expressions with an idea that is “totally abstract” together with expressions associated with “studies” or a “habit”.

Listen to the examples:
I say: French
You say: Do French
I say: A choice
You say: Make a choice

Now you go on in the same way:
French
Do French
A choice
Make a choice
a bet
Make a bet
a decision.
Make a decision.
a difference
Make a difference
Chinese
Do Chinese
Mathematics
Do mathematics
A fuss
Make a fuss
A good impression
Make a good impression
A habit of something
Make a habit of something
A living
Make a living
Drugs
Do drugs
180 kilometers an hour
Do 180 kilometers an hour
A name
Make a name (for oneself).
A promise
Make a promise
A sacrifice
Make a sacrifice
An agreement
Make an agreement
An announcement
Make an announcement
Physics
Do physics
An appointment
Make an appointment
An attempt
Make an attempt
Engineering
Do engineering
An effort
Make an effort
An escape
Make an escape

Listen and repeat.
I know I will soon make a very good impression when I make an attempt at speaking English. I have made the decision to do exercises as often as possible without making a fuss. In the future I will not make an excuse for not speaking English. I will not make an escape when an English-speaking person talks to me. Making progress will make me happy, and I will make the promise to always do my best.

That is the end of today’s podcast. I suggest you listen to the two podcasts with poems I have written with expression using “make” and “do”. If you do the repetition several times and even try to learn these poems by heart as my students have, you will be pleasantly surprised that you are able to use these expressions correctly.

If you have comments or suggestions or information to submit please contact us through our website www.qualitytime-esl.com. If learners wish to submit vocabulary lists for their languages, they should feel free to do so. Lists will be published on the web site. Thank you for listening. Bye for now and don’t forget to keep smiling