How many phrasal verbs with make do you know? There are quite a few and, even more confusingly, some have multiple meanings.
Can you make out the meanings of the following phrasal verbs from the context of the sentence?
- She had made herself up heavily to try to make herself into somebody else.
- I’ll make do with seeing you on Saturday but it doesn’t make up for you cancelling our date tonight.
- I couldn’t make out the registration of the car that made off with the robbers.
- My parents made over their garage to make it into a gym.
- I was going to make up with her until I saw her making out with my boyfriend.
Have a look at the table below to find out if you were right.
| make do with something | accept something less satisfactory because there’s no alternative | There’s no coffee, so we’ll have to make do with tea. |
| make for something | move towards something or a place | Make for the hills, a tsunami is approaching. |
| make for something | contribute to, lead to or cause a result or situation.
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Both candidates are popular so it should make for an interesting election.
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| make something into something
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convert one thing into another thing
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His parents made his bedroom into a billiards room once he moved out. |
| make of something | try to understand and find a reason for something | I don’t know what to make of her suddenly unfriendly attitude towards me. |
| make of something | think and have an opinion about something
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What do you make of the new policy the president signed?
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| make off with
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steal something and (quickly) take it away. | The looters made off with all the laptops that were in the computer store. |
| make off
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hurry away, especially in order to escape | The thieves had to make off in their car when the police arrived. |
| make something out | just be able to hear, read or see something | He spoke so quietly we could hardly make out what he was saying.
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| make something out | fill out the details of a document (usually a cheque) | You can make out the cheque to Woodward Ltd. |
| make something out to be | claim; to assert | He makes himself out to be an important artist but his paintings are utter garbage. |
| make out
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Manage; deal with. Usually used informally in a question after “How…?”
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How did you make out yesterday on the biology test?
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| make out
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slang for kiss and grope, though not to have sex.
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We were making out in the gym and got caught by the teacher
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| make somebody out
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understand a person’s character
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Since she is normally quiet and reserved it is hard to make her out.
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| make something over
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change appearance to make better
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I wish I could afford to make over the kitchen. |
| make (something) over to (somebody)
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transfer ownership
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The government of Mugabe made all the land of the whites over to black African farmers.
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| be made up of something
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To be composed of different parts/people/qualities
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The committee was made up of all the regional managers.
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| make someone up
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apply cosmetics to | The actors must make themselves up before going on stage. |
| make something up | invent a story, usually to deceive or entertain | My four year old niece is always making up stories, last week she told me that she and her friends flew to the moon. |
| make something up | provide a required number or an amount to complete something | We need two more people to make up a football team. |
| make something up | prepare a bed (or something) for use
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The room is tidy; I just have to make up the bed for you.
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| make up | become friendly with someone again, usually after an argument or fight | After three years without talking to each other, they finally made up. |
| make up for something
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compensate for something | I know I ruined your favourite dress but I hope this new one I bought you makes up for it. |
These are some common phrasal verbs with MAKE. There are more. Add those that you don’t know to your vocabulary lists. Then click on the links to do the quizzes.
QUIZLET
https://quizlet.com/_8kndw1?x=1qqt&i=2ui1fg
Here you will find flashcards where you can STUDY the phrasal verbs and their definitions and then PLAY a matching game where you try to match the phrasal verbs/definitions in the fastest time.
KAHOOT
https://kahoot.it/challenge/09268697?challenge-id=e178617c-b9c3-4964-9cbd-0a584d1ab4ba_1597118961626
Or go to kahoot.it and enter the PIN 09268697
Here you will find multiple choice question where you need to choose the correct phrasal verb to finish the sentence. You’ll be competing against other players this month. This round ends on 7 September 2020.
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