Make As a Verb
- Can you make coffee?
- She made me a nice dress.
It is also possible to use an adjective as object complement.
- She made his life miserable.
- Do I make you happy?
Make can also be followed by object + infinitive. In active structures, we normally use an infinitive without to.
- They made me wait.
- He made her cry.
In passive structures the infinitive is used with to.
- I was made to wait.
Special uses of make
- She made me wait. (NOT She made me waiting.) (NOT She made me to wait.)
- I made her cry. (NOT I made her crying.) (NOT I made her to cry.)
- They made him narrate the whole incidence. (NOT They made him to narrate the whole incidence.)
When these sentences are changed into the passive, we use the infinitive with to.
- I was made to wait.
- He was made to narrate the whole incidence.
Make + object + object complement
Make can be followed by an object, with an adjective or noun referring to a change in the object.
Study the following sentence.
- I feel weak because of the illness.
The same idea can be expressed using make.
- The illness makes me feel weak.
- We became angry on hearing his reply.
- His replay made us angry.
- They became impatient at the delay.
- The delay made them impatient.
Exercise
Rewrite the following sentences using make.
1. We became sad on seeing her pathetic condition.
2. I was irritated by her prudishness.
3. We were unhappy because of our repeated failures.
4. He became famous for his experiments in physics.
5. The weather became humid because of the impending thunderstorms.
6. She cried on hearing the news.
Answers
1. Her pathetic condition made us sad.
2. Her prudishness made me irritated.
3. Our repeated failures made us unhappy.
4. His experiments in physics made him famous.
5. The impending thunderstorms made the weather humid.
6. The news made her cry.
