Please explain me this phrase...

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JCDenton

#543632 Sat, 19 Jul 08 08:00 PM

Hi guys,

Can you please shed some light for me at the phrase "to make of someone"? Google returned me a lot of sentences with this phrase, but it didn't help me... Crying ...Here are some examples:

- People who met him then didn't know what to make of him.

- Barack Obama for his part has defended each of these actions. I don't know what to make of him, other than to respect his intellect and obvious communication skills.

Or my context...Cops found a child who seems to be in shock. That cop, who found him, didn't know what to do, so he decided to call FBI. When the FBI agents arrived he said to them:

Cop: Glad to see you guys. We're not sure what to make of this kid.

FBI agent: What's his name?

Cop: Bryan Parker. Got his name off a library card.

FBI: So, what, he's not talking?

Cop: No. He's still pretty shook up.
.

Please guys help me, I'm confused with this phrase, please, did he say:

a) We're not sure what happended to him?

b) We're not sure what to do with him?

c) We're not sure howto handle him?

many thanks in advance...

Best Regards

JCD

JCDenton

Joined on Tue, Jul 3 2007

Europe

Regular Member (505)

Regards

Madhulk

#543641 Sat, 19 Jul 08 08:27 PM

- People who met him then didn't know what to make of him. What to think of him, I guess.

- Barack Obama for his part has defended each of these actions. I don't know what to make of him, other than to respect his intellect and obvious communication skills. The same for this sentence.

Or my context...Cops found a child who seems to be in shock. That cop, who found him, didn't know what to do, so he decided to call FBI. When the FBI agents arrived he said to them:

Cop: Glad to see you guys. We're not sure what to make of this kid. What to do/How to handle.

FBI agent: What's his name?

Cop: Bryan Parker. Got his name off a library card.

FBI: So, what, he's not talking?

Cop: No. He's still pretty shook up.

Madhulk

Joined on Mon, Dec 17 2007

Bulgaria

Contributing Member (1,221)

THE MAN OF STEEL

Peaceblinkfriend

#543643 Sat, 19 Jul 08 08:31 PM

Hi JCDention,

I got this off my dictionary (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionar).

"If you ask someone what they make of someone or something, you want to know their opinion about that person or thing, often because there is something strange about them"

In other words,

We're not sure what to think of this kid.
We're not sure what sort of opinion we should form about this kid. => (As Madhulk suggests)...what to do with/how to approach this kid

PBF

Peaceblinkfriend

Joined on Wed, May 9 2007

Australia

Contributing Member (1,576)

JCDenton

#543648 Sat, 19 Jul 08 08:37 PM

Hi Madhulk,

Yes, that was my first tip...what to make of this kid = what to do with this kid...thanks for your note.

Anyway, it seems that phrase "what to make of someone" has two meanings...it can means either "what to think about someone" / "what to do with someone"..

Please native speakers, is it correct? Does it have other meanings?

with regards

JCD

JCDenton

Regards

JCDenton

#543649 Sat, 19 Jul 08 08:41 PM

Thanks PBF!

JCDenton

RayH

#543655 Sat, 19 Jul 08 09:14 PM

Please guys help me, I'm confused with this phrase, please, did he say:

a) We're not sure what happened to him?

b) We're not sure what to do with him?

c) We're not sure how to handle him?

Depending on context any or all of these might apply. I guess "what to make of" is a kind of catch-all phrase used to express uncertainty or confusion.

See this http://www.answers.com/what+to+make?cat=technology&gwp=13

definition 18a