Timeline for "make" and "do" - how to make sure you take the right one?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 5, 2018 at 2:47 | history | edited | ColleenV |
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| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:55 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Dec 5, 2014 at 10:51 | vote | accept | Em1 | ||
| Jan 9, 2014 at 21:16 | comment | added | swbarnes2 | "Do the flowers" is not a phrase in my American dialect. "Do the dishes" (wash them) and "Do homework" absolutely, not not flowers. | |
| Jan 6, 2014 at 13:48 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @em1: It's all context-dependant. The general form do the X just means attend to X / perform whatever actions are necessary in respect of X. In some contexts, it's necessary that X should be created, in which case most likely do and make can be used interchangeably. | |
| Jan 6, 2014 at 5:53 | comment | added | Em1 | @FumbleFingers According to OALD, "do the dishes" means "to wash" them, but "do the flowers" is "to arrange" them. | |
| Jan 6, 2014 at 1:54 | comment | added | toandfro | @FumbleFingers: No, I only make drugs. I am Heisenberg. | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 23:57 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @em1: I'm pretty sure I've never come across "do the dishes" used to mean "arrange the dishes". What dictionary are you using? I think you should get rid of it. | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 23:53 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @toandfro: I bet you don't do drugs, either. But be honest - do you take drugs? | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 23:03 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackEnglishLL/status/419967507462914048 | ||
| Jan 5, 2014 at 21:21 | comment | added | toandfro | But I'm pretty antisocial. I don't do small talk. | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 20:59 | comment | added | Damkerng T. | I think your simplified rule is correct almost all the time (use make only when you can think of it in the sense of creating it or producing it, otherwise, use do). Being a learner, I think the best way is to stick with the rule, and make a note on exceptions we find, which I think there are only a handful of them. Also note that sometimes we have both usages, e.g. make her own bed vs. I'll join you after I've done the beds. | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 20:39 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @hunter is right: you "make" small talk, and do the dishes, at least in the US, means to wash them. Also (and again, in US use), you don't "make" the table unless you're a carpenter: if you're arranging the plates and silverware you "set" the table. | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 20:35 | answer | added | StoneyB on hiatus | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 20:24 | comment | added | Em1 | @hunter "Make small talk" was what I had said before I wrote this question, but my research while writing made me change my opinion on that. And according to my dictionary "do the dishes" means "to arrange". | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 20:19 | comment | added | hunter | I don't agree with your data. I think you make small talk (just like a speech, or jokes). I don't know what "do the flowers" means. "Do the dishes" is correct, but it refers to cleaning them, not to creating them, so it is consistent with your earlier rule. | |
| Jan 5, 2014 at 20:06 | history | asked | Em1 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |