Make or Do? B2 First Collocation Traps

Make harm or do harm? Most learners know both verbs and every noun in the phrase, and still pick the wrong pair. That is the whole make or do problem: the meaning is easy, the partner is not. In the collocations deck of our English B2 First Exam Kit, 40 of the 250 cards carry the same warning, although their phrase does not start with make: the verb is not make. This post covers when to use make or do, where the usual rule breaks, the nouns that take neither, the verb your own language suggests, the adjectives that are never big, and nine gaps to try in the shape of Use of English Part 1. Every example sentence is a card from the deck, quoted word for word (punctuation aside), and every starred form comes from that card's note.

Make or do: the rule of thumb

The short answer: do goes with tasks and work, make with things you produce, create or cause.

• do overtime: "Nurses often have to do overtime when the hospital is short of staff." The note: *make overtime is wrong.
• do research: "She is doing research into the effects of social media on sleep." *Make research is wrong.
• do your homework: "I usually do my homework straight after school so that my evenings are free." The note calls *make homework "a very common error", and adds that homework is uncountable: *a homework, *homeworks.
• make a fuss: "It's only a small scratch: there's no need to make a fuss about it." *Do a fuss is wrong.
• make an impression: "She made a great impression at the interview and got the job." The note has a twist: do an impression of someone exists, but it means imitating them.
• make a profit: "The café only started to make a profit in its third year." *Do a profit and *win a profit are wrong.

The deck has 25 cards that start with make, 20 with do and 25 with take. When the notes correct a learner's verb, make is the word they star most often, by a distance.

For the classics, make a decision, make a mistake and make an effort, and for how Part 1 is marked, see what B2 First Use of English really tests. This post goes where that one stops: the cards on which the rule of thumb lets you down.

Where the make or do rule breaks

A storm does damage, and nobody would call that a task: "The storm did serious damage to houses along the coast." The note: *make damage is wrong, and cause damage also works. Harm follows damage: "A little sun won't do you any harm, but remember to wear sun cream." *Make harm is wrong.

The rule fails the other way too. Make sense produces nothing, yet it takes make: "It makes sense to book early, because prices go up in the summer." The note adds that there is no article (*make a sense) and that *have sense is a translation error.

So treat the rule as a first guess. When the rule and the card disagree, trust the card, and learn the noun with its verb as one item rather than the verb with a list of nouns.

When it is neither make nor do

Part 1 gives you four verbs with similar meanings, and on many gaps the answer is neither make nor do. These six cards each take a third verb:

• hold a meeting: "The residents will hold a meeting next week to discuss the parking problem." *Make a meeting is wrong.
• reach a conclusion: "The committee reached the conclusion that the park should stay open at night." *Make a conclusion is wrong.
• meet a deadline: "We worked through the weekend to meet the deadline for the project." *Reach a deadline and *keep a deadline are errors.
• meet someone's needs: "The new library has been designed to meet the needs of students and families." Fulfil needs is possible but less common; *answer the needs is a translation error.
• take a photo: "Would you mind taking a photo of us in front of the cathedral?" The note calls *make a photo "a classic error from German, Polish and other languages".
• bear in mind: "Bear in mind that the last train leaves at eleven." The note calls bear / hold / carry / take "a typical Part 1 option set".

One more belongs here because it is a fixed phrase: make the most of. "The weather was lovely, so we made the most of it and spent the day at the beach." The note calls it "a favourite Part 1 answer where options like 'take/get/do the most' are distractors".

The verb your own language suggests

Some notes give the error a name: a translation error, a verb copied word for word from another language. These four cards are the ones the video groups under that label:

• gain experience: "Volunteering is a great way to gain experience before you apply for jobs." The note: "*Make experience is a translation error (from German 'Erfahrungen machen', for example)."
• run a business: "My aunt runs a small business selling handmade furniture." Run means manage; *lead a business and *drive a business are translation errors.
• set a goal: "I've set myself a goal of reading twenty books this year." *Put a goal and *make a goal are translation errors, and the note adds a second step: you achieve or reach a goal afterwards.
• meet someone's needs, from the section above: *answer the needs is the translated version.

The pattern is useful in the exam. When your first choice comes from translating a phrase in your head, that is the moment to check it: Part 1 puts the translated verb among the options on purpose.

Adjective and adverb partners: never big

Verbs are not the only partners. Seven notes in the deck star big, all of them on adjective cards, and the video calls the chapter "heavy, strong, narrow, never big":

• a heavy smoker: "My grandfather was a heavy smoker, but he gave up at sixty." *Strong smoker and *big smoker are errors.
• a wide range of: "The college offers a wide range of evening classes, from pottery to programming." Wide or broad; large range is less natural, and *big range is wrong.
• a strong argument: "There is a strong argument for making public transport free for students." The opposite is a weak argument; *a hard argument and *a heavy argument are wrong.
• a narrow escape: "We had a narrow escape when a tree fell just behind our car." *Thin escape and *small escape are errors.

Adverbs work the same way:

• highly unlikely: "It's highly unlikely that the match will be cancelled, even if it rains." Highly, not *high or *strongly, goes with likely, unlikely, successful, recommended and qualified.
• absolutely exhausted: "After the twelve-hour flight, we were absolutely exhausted." Extreme adjectives (exhausted, freezing, furious, delighted) take absolutely or completely, not *very exhausted.

Make or do exercise: nine gaps in the Part 1 style

Each gap is a card from the deck, and every wrong option comes from that card's note, so some items have two or three options rather than the exam's four. Choose one, then open the answers.

1. The café only started to ________ a profit in its third year. (make / do)
2. I've ________ myself a goal of reading twenty books this year. (put / set / made / reached)
3. We had a ________ escape when a tree fell just behind our car. (thin / narrow / small)
4. ________ in mind that the last train leaves at eleven. (Hold / Bear / Carry / Take)
5. We worked through the weekend to ________ the deadline for the project. (reach / keep / meet)
6. The weather was lovely, so we ________ the most of it and spent the day at the beach. (took / got / did / made)
7. The storm ________ serious damage to houses along the coast. (made / did)
8. The residents will ________ a meeting next week to discuss the parking problem. (make / hold)
9. Volunteering is a great way to ________ experience before you apply for jobs. (make / gain)

The video above plays six of these gaps (1 to 6) with a pause before each answer. For a whole text in the exam's format, try our free Use of English Part 1 practice: eight gaps with four options each, marked at once, with every answer explained and no sign-up.

Make or do list: the 22 cards in the video

The cards of the video in one table: the pair to learn, the partner the card's note marks wrong, and the meaning on the back of the card. 18 are B2 and 4 are B1.

How to learn collocations so they stick

Learn the noun and its partner as one card, never the noun alone. Knowing what deadline means does not tell you that you meet it. Learn the wrong partner too, because that is the option Part 1 will put next to the right one, and it is the one your own language suggests.

Then review the pairs on a schedule rather than in one sitting. A collocation is a habit of the ear: you want meet a deadline to sound right and reach a deadline to sound wrong before you have thought about it, and that comes from short reviews spread over weeks. Spaced repetition does the spreading for you (see how the app schedules reviews).

The 22 cards here come from the collocations deck of our English B2 First Exam Kit: 250 cards (187 tagged for Part 1, 63 for Part 2), each with the meaning, an example sentence with its recording, and a note. On 217 of the 250 cards the note names the error to avoid. To see how much of the kit's vocabulary you already know, the free B2 word check takes a few minutes and needs no account. And if you want the size of the whole task, how many words you need for B2 First has the counts for every deck.

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