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Common English Collocations with MAKE

Food

  • make breakfast/lunch/dinner
    • I'm making dinner - it'll be ready in about ten minutes.
  • make a sandwich
    • Can you make me a turkey sandwich?
  • make a salad
    • I made a salad for the family picnic.
  • make a cup of tea
    • Would you like me to make you a cup of tea.
  • make a reservation
    • I've made a reservation for 7:30 at our favorite restaurant.

Money

  • make money
    • I enjoy my job, but I don't make very much money.
  • make a profit
    • The new company made a profit within its first year.
  • make a fortune
    • He made a fortune after his book hit #1 on the bestseller list.
  • make $__
    • I made 250$ selling my old CDs on the internet.

Relationships

  • make friends
  • make love
  • make a pass at (=flirt with someone)
    • My best friend's brother made a pass at me - he asked if I was single and tried to get my phone number.
  • make fun of someone (= tease / mock someone)
    • The other kids made fun of Jimmy when he got glasses, calling him "four eyes".
  • make up (=resolve a problem in a relationship)
    • Karen and Jennifer made up after the big fight they had last week.

Communication

  • make a phone call
    • Please excuse me - I need to make a phone call.
  • make a joke
    • He made a joke, but it wasn't very funny and no one laughed.
  • make a point
    • Dana made some good points during the meeting; I think we should consider her ideas.
  • make a bet
    • I made a bet with Peter to see who could do more push-ups.
  • make a guess
  • make a comment
    • She made helpful comments on my work.
    • The teacher made a few critical comments on my essay.
  • make a suggestion
    • Can I make a suggestion?
  • make a complaint
    • We made a complaint with our internet provider about their terrible service, but we still haven't heard back from them.
  • make a promise
    • I made a promise to help her whenever she needs it.
  • make a speech
    • The company president made a speech about ethics in the workplace.
  • make a confession
    • I need to make a confession: I was the one who ate the last piece of cake.
  • make a prediction
    • It's difficult to make any predictions about the future of the economy.
  • make an excuese
  • make a fuss
    • Stop making a fuss - he's only late a couple minutes. I'm sure he'll be here soon.
  • make an observation
    • I'd like to make an observation about our business plan - it's not set in stone, so we can be flexible.

Plans & Progress

  • make plans
    • We're making plans to travel to Australia next year.
  • make a decision/choice
    • I've made my decision - I'm going to the New York University, not Boston Univeristy.
  • make a mistake
    • You made a few mistakes in you calculatons - the correct total is $5430, not $4530.
  • make progress
    • My students are making good progress. Their spoken English is improving a lot.
  • make an attempt/effort (=try)
    • I'm making an effort to stop smoking this year.
  • make up your mind
    • Should I buy a desktop or a laptop computer? I can't make up my mind.
  • make a discovery
    • Scientists have made up an important discovery in the area of genetics.
  • make a list
    • I'm making a list of everything we need for the wedding: inviations, decorations, a cake, a band, the dress ...
  • make sure
    • Can you make sure we have enough copies of the report for everybody at the meeting?
  • make a difference
    • Getting eight hours of sleep makes a big difference in my day. I have more energy!
  • make an exception
    • Normally the teacher doesn't accept late homework, but she made an exception for me becasue my backpack was stolen with my homework inside it.

Others

  • make a mess
  • make the bed
    • I got up, dressed, made the bed and left.
  • make time