Do vs. Make: School and Studying Collocations
Choosing between "do" and "make" is a common challenge for English learners. Generally, we use "do" for tasks, activities, and obligations (like doing homework or doing your best), while "make" is used when creating, producing, or achieving something new (like making a mistake or making progress).
In this challenge, you will practice these essential collocations in fun, everyday educational scenarios. You'll help students deliver classic excuses for missing assignments, text friends about math errors, write end-of-year report cards, and give study advice to college freshmen. Along the way, you'll master essential academic phrasing like do a course, make notes, do an exam, and make friends.
You will work through 11 questions presented in an engaging mix of single-choice, drop-down, drag-and-drop, and multi-choice formats.
Try the quiz to check your knowledge!
Correct Answers
Complete the exchange student's cheerful postcard to her parents.
I decided to do a summer course in photography because studying together is a great way to make new friends!
I decided to do a summer course in photography because studying together is a great way to make new friends!
We use do with studying and learning activities (like do a course, do a subject).
We use make with relationships and social connections (like make friends).
The correct answers are Leo made excellent progress in French this year. and He never gives up, even when he makes a mistake.
We use make when we create or produce something new. We make progress, make a mistake, and make an effort. However, for regular school tasks, we do exercises.
I need to do my math homework before midnight, but I always make so many mistakes when I rush!
We use do for school tasks and assignments (like do homework, do an exercise).
We use make when we create or produce something, including errors (like make a mistake, make a choice).
Choose the correct verbs to complete the tutor's encouraging speech.
If you want to make progress in Spanish, you just need to relax, practice a little every day, and do your best!
If you want to make progress in Spanish, you just need to relax, practice a little every day, and do your best!
Use make with improvements and moving forward (like make progress, make an effort).
Use do with personal performance and trying hard (like do your best, do well).
The correct answers are Make a study plan before your exams begin. and Do your best on every single assignment.
We make a plan because we are creating something new. We do our best when performing an action. Remember that you do a course (not make) and you make mistakes (not do)!
My son decided to do a degree in robotics at the university! He is starting to make excellent progress...
We use do for academic courses and programs (like do a degree, do a course).
We use make with progress because it represents a development or creation of forward movement (make progress).
Help Leo complete his apology email to his math teacher.
I tried to do my homework last night, but my cat walked on my keyboard and I made a terrible mistake on the last page!
I tried to do my homework last night, but my cat walked on my keyboard and I made a terrible mistake on the last page!
Use do with tasks, routines, and assignments (like do homework, do chores).
Use make when creating or producing something, including errors (like make a mistake, make a mess).
Complete the student's sudden realization after a math test. Choose the correct verb.
Oh no! I think I _____ a huge mistake on the math test. I added the numbers instead of multiplying them!
The correct answer is made.
Even though this happened at school, we always use the verb make with "a mistake." We never say "do a mistake."
To survive my class, you should make careful notes during my lectures. That way, when you do the final exam next week, you won't panic and forget everything!
We use make with notes because you are creating them (make notes).
We use do with tests and exams because it is an activity you complete (do an exam, do a test).
Read the student's proud message to their parents and choose the correct verb.
I am finally _____ some progress in my French class! I can actually order a croissant now without just pointing at it.
The correct answer is making.
We use the collocation make progress to talk about improving or getting better at a skill or subject.
Help the student deliver a classic excuse to their teacher. Choose the correct verb to complete the sentence.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Davis. I couldn't _____ my homework last night because my dog ate it... again."
The correct answer is do.
In English, we use the verb do (not make) when talking about tasks, daily work, and study activities like "homework" or "an assignment."
Conditional sentence
- ✅ If you heat ice, it melts. — zero conditional (always true)
- ✅ If it rains, I*'ll** take an umbrella.* — first conditional (real future)
- ✅ If I had wings, I would fly. — second conditional (unreal present)
- ✅ If I had left earlier, I would have caught the train. — third conditional (unreal past)
Conditional sentences pair an if-clause with a consequence. Five patterns (zero through mixed) each combine specific tenses to express different levels of reality and time.
Pattern: the tense in the if-clause is always one step "back" from what you'd expect — past for present hypotheticals, past perfect for past hypotheticals.
Imperative mood
- ✅ Sit down. — command (bare verb, no subject)
- ✅ Don't touch that. — negative imperative
- ✅ Let's go. — first-person inclusive imperative
- ❌ You sit down. — adding you sounds aggressive (only for emphasis/anger)
The imperative mood uses the bare verb form with no stated subject for commands, instructions, requests, and invitations. Negated with don't. Softened with please or replaced by questions (Could you…?) for politeness.
Rule: imperative = base form of verb, no subject, no tense marking. If there's a subject or tense → it's not imperative.
Infinitive
- ✅ I want to go. — to-infinitive after want
- ✅ She can swim. — bare infinitive after modal
- ✅ Let me help. — bare infinitive after let
- ❌ I enjoy to read. — wrong (enjoy takes gerund, not infinitive)
The infinitive has two forms: to-infinitive (to go) after verbs like want, decide, plan, hope; bare infinitive (go) after modals and causatives (let, make, help).
Rule: after want, need, decide, plan, hope, expect, agree, refuse → to-infinitive. After can, will, must, let, make → bare infinitive. After enjoy, avoid, finish → gerund, NOT infinitive.
Modal verb
- ✅ She can swim. — ❌ She can to swim. (modal + bare infinitive, no to)
- ✅ You must leave now. — strong obligation
- ✅ It might rain. — possibility (~50%)
- ✅ He should apologise. — advice/recommendation
Modal verbs (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) are auxiliaries expressing ability, permission, possibility, obligation, or speculation. Always + bare infinitive. Never inflected (she can, not she cans).
Rule: modals never take to after them, never add -s for third person, and can't combine directly (must can ❌ — use must be able to).
Past tense
- I walked home. — simple past (completed action)
- I was walking when it rained. — past progressive (in progress)
- I had already left when she arrived. — past perfect (earlier past)
- I had been waiting for an hour. — past perfect progressive (duration up to a past point)
Four past tense forms: simple past (done), past progressive (was happening), past perfect (had already happened), past perfect progressive (had been happening). Each encodes different timing relative to other past events.
Pattern: simple past = the story's main timeline. Past progressive = background action. Past perfect = flashback to something even earlier.
Phrase
- the red car — noun phrase (functions as one noun unit)
- on the table — prepositional phrase
- has been running — verb phrase
- very quickly — adverb phrase
A phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit WITHOUT a subject + verb pair. Types: noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase.
Key distinction: a phrase lacks a subject-verb pair. If it has subject + verb → it's a clause, not a phrase. Phrases are the building blocks clauses are made of.
Present tense
- I work here. — simple present (habit/permanent)
- I am working now. — present progressive (happening right now)
- I have lived here for 10 years. — present perfect (started past, still true)
- I have been waiting for an hour. — present perfect progressive (duration up to now)
Four present tense forms: simple (habits/facts), progressive (now/temporary), perfect (past → present relevance), perfect progressive (ongoing duration). Each encodes a different relationship between the action and the present moment.
Trap: "I am living here for 10 years" ❌ — started in the past + still true = present PERFECT (have lived/have been living), not progressive.
Verb
- walk → walk / walks / walked / walked / walking (5 forms, regular)
- go → go / goes / went / gone / going (5 forms, irregular)
- be → am/is/are/was/were/be/being/been (8 forms)
- can → can / could (modal: only 2 forms, no -s, no -ing)
A verb is the one word class every English sentence requires. Carries tense (when), aspect (duration), mood (attitude), and voice (active/passive). Regular verbs add -ed; ~200 irregular verbs have unpredictable past forms.
Key insight: fix your verbs and most grammar problems disappear. Wrong tense, wrong agreement, wrong form — verb errors account for the majority of grammatical mistakes.
Progressive tense
- ✅ I am working in London. — temporary, happening now
- ✅ I work in London. — permanent/habitual (simple)
- ❌ I am knowing the answer. — stative verb, can't be progressive
- ✅ She was reading when I arrived. — past progressive (in progress at that moment)
The progressive = be + -ing. Marks actions as ongoing, temporary, or in-progress at a reference time. NOT used with stative verbs (know, believe, own, want, like) unless meaning shifts.
Rule: is the action temporary/in-progress right now? → progressive. Is it a permanent fact, habit, or schedule? → simple. Is it a stative verb? → almost never progressive.
Simple tense
- ✅ I go to work every day. — present simple (habit)
- ✅ She went home yesterday. — past simple (completed action)
- ✅ I will call you later. — future simple (promise/decision)
- ✅ Water boils at 100°C. — present simple (general truth)
The simple aspect is the default, unmarked verb form. Present simple = habits, facts, schedules. Past simple = completed actions. Future simple = predictions, promises, decisions. No auxiliary needed (except will for future and do for questions/negatives).
Rule: if the action is a fact, habit, completed event, or scheduled future — and you don't need to emphasise it being in-progress or connected to now → simple tense.
Collocations
- ✅ make a decision — ❌ do a decision
- ✅ strong coffee — ❌ powerful coffee
- ✅ heavy rain — ❌ strong rain
- ✅ highly unlikely — ❌ very unlikely (grammatical, but less natural)
Collocations are word pairs that English habitually puts together. Both options may be grammatically valid, but one sounds native and the other doesn't.
Pattern: there's no logic to predict them — you make decisions but do homework, you have strong coffee but heavy rain. They must be learned as chunks, not deduced from rules.
A2 | Elementary | Pre-intermediate
- ✅ I went to the cinema yesterday. — past simple
- ✅ I have visited Paris twice. — present perfect (life experience)
- ✅ If it rains, I'll take an umbrella. — first conditional
- ✅ You should see a doctor. — modal for advice
These patterns are A2 — the second CEFR level. At A2 you move past survival phrases into real grammar: past tenses, the present perfect, basic conditionals, and modals for advice/obligation.
Marker: if you can describe yesterday and give simple advice, but struggle with abstractions or nuance, you're at A2.
Easy
- She is a teacher. — one verb form, one rule
- I have two cats. — basic possession, short sentence
- He doesn't like coffee. — simple negation with do-support
- Only one answer is clearly correct; distractors are obviously wrong.
Easy marks beginner-level challenges: A1–early A2, one rule at a time, everyday vocabulary, no trick questions.
Use "Easy" when you want to build confidence on a specific rule without interference from other grammar or tricky contexts.