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meantolearn

#91987 Wed, 20 Apr 05 10:13 PM

"make the right decision"

Does 'make' mean 'produce' here? just like making a meal or cake.

Thanks,

meantolearn

Joined on Thu, Feb 24 2005

Regular Member (704)

abbie1948

#92008 Wed, 20 Apr 05 11:18 PM

Can you 'produce' a decision as you would a cake?

'make' is another one of those English words which can have a number of meanings. In this instance the meaning is 'to reach' or 'to form'.

abbie1948

Joined on Thu, Mar 24 2005

England

Senior Member (2,657)

Hope that helps. Abbie

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meantolearn

#92234 Thu, 21 Apr 05 08:09 PM

Hi Abbie,

What do you mean by 'to reach' o 'to form'? Please explain.

to make a suggestion ----- what does 'make' mean? Please explain.

to make a judgement ----- what does 'make' mean? Please explain.

Thanks,

meantolearn

abbie1948

#92396 Fri, 22 Apr 05 12:00 PM

Hi MTL,

"To reach a decision" - to consider something and then come to a conclusion.

They discussed a number of options, and reached the decision that option A was best. Everyone agreed that they had made the right decision.

Amongst other things, 'form' can mean "to make something begin to exist:"

"To form a conclusion" They didn't know where to go, but after discussion they began to get ideas which helped them to come up with a decision (which had not previously existed)

English can be quite difficult to learn, because we use one word to mean many different things.

You might find this on-line dictionary helpful, as it gives examples of sentences using the word you search for.There are 6 disctionaries here, including alearners and advanced learners dictionary. You can spend hours just reading it! Smile [:)]

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Here is a good on-line dictionary

abbie1948

Numbers

meantolearn

#92573 Sat, 23 Apr 05 12:57 AM

Hi Abbie,

I've heard the most troublesome words in English are the small words not the big ones. As you mentioned a short word such as 'make' can have quite different meanings.

The definition about 'to form' -- to make something begin to exist. If this is true, then 'to form' and 'to produce/create/generate' have the same meaning. Aren't they? The only difference, probably, is the usage not the meaning. Agree?

to make a cake = to produce a cake ?= to form a cake

to make a decision = to form a decision ?= to generate a decision

to make a suggestion = to reach/form a suggestion ?= to create/generate a suggestion

to make a judgement = to reach/form a judgement ?= to create/generate a judgement

Thanks for the reply.

Note: ?= means in doubt

meantolearn

abbie1948

#92578 Sat, 23 Apr 05 01:13 AM

Bit confused here, MTL. Are you asking about approximate meanings, or use of words?

abbie1948