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I'll buy a new one to make it up for you

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Latest post Mon, Sep 1 2008 11:30 PM by Clive. 5 replies.
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Angliholic  +  560930 Mon, 01 Sep 08 07:56 AM
I'm sorry to have lost the camera you lent me. I'll buy a new one to make it up for you.
...                                                                                          to make up for you.
...                                                                                          to compensate for you.


Hi,
Do all of the above sound right? If not, how should I reword them? Thanks.
Angliholic
Joined on Wed, Feb 14 2007
SomewhereinFormosa
Veteran Member 6,493
Without true love, life is meaningless and worthless since our physical world is nothing but a dream. ~~Angliholic~~簡瑞達
Neeraj Jain  +  560953 Mon, 01 Sep 08 09:25 AM
I think that the sentence should take possessive form. It should be:

I'll buy a new one to compensate for yours.
Neeraj Jain
Joined on Fri, Sep 7 2007
Regular Member 583
Smile allows you to win.
Related discussions
Angliholic  +  560982 Mon, 01 Sep 08 10:41 AM
Thanks, Meerai.
And sorry !!!
It's not that I don't like your opinion but that I'd rather know what native speakers would say.
All of these questions I asked now are the sentence written by my pupils so I've to make sure if they are correct or not.
Angliholic
daddyjohn, 1 yr 201 days ago
Isn't this simpler? 

I'll change it with a new one.
Angliholic, 1 yr 201 days ago
Thanks, daddyjohn,

What do you mean by that?
Which sentences are correct in my first post? Thanks again.
Clive  +  561270 Mon, 01 Sep 08 11:30 PM
Hi,

I'm sorry to have lost the camera you lent me. I'll buy a new one to make it up for you.
...                                                                                          to make up for you.
...                                                                                          to compensate for you.


Do all of the above sound right? If not, how should I reword them?

Say  I'll buy a new one to make up for it. It refers to the camera, or perhaps to the act of losing the camera.

Another related idiom is I'll buy a new one to make it up to you. It here refers to the difficulty I have caused you. This idiom is not used much in situations whare I simply replace the item. Instead, it suggests that I do something that causes you a problem, and then try to do something else to compensate.
eg I'm sorry I lost your camera. I'll buy you an expensive dinner to make up for it.

Best wishes, Clive
Clive
Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004
Canada
Veteran Member 31,620
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