"Normans' ambition was to make of England a trilingual country."
What is the meaning of phrasal verb "make of."
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1Maybe, it could be paraphrased as "Normans' ambition was to make a trilingual country of England." – dan Feb 2 at 12:12
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What @dan said. Including optional of in such constructions today would normally be seen as dated / poetic / pompous / stilted. – FumbleFingers Feb 2 at 14:23
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I suspect you mean, "the Normans".
This is an inversion. The standard version would be:
"The Normans' ambition was to make a trilingual country of England."
This can be compared with, "Janet's ambition was to make a teapot of clay."
So Janet wishes to convert clay into a teapot. The Normans want to convert England into a tri-lingual nation.
