 | The verb 'make' has several meanings in English. When Helen says 'I can't make people call', she means that she cannot force people to call; she does not have the power to control or change the situation.
When 'make' means 'force' or 'control', in the active form, it is followed by an object and the bare infinitive (infinitive without 'to').
| subject | make | object | infinitive without 'to' | | I | (can't) make | people | call |
Be careful: in the active form, 'make' is NOT followed by 'to', and it is NOT followed by an -ing form:
The teacher made us to do our homework - WRONG
The teacher made us doing our homework - WRONG
The teacher made us do our homework - RIGHT
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| When 'make' means 'force', in the passive from, it is followed by the infinitive with 'to'.
| subject | was/were made | infinitive with 'to' | complement | | I | was made | to repeat | the exercise |
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| If you 'let' somebody do something, you give permission or you allow them to do something. Helen says 'if you want him to move in, you'll have to let him have a discount.'
When 'let' means 'allow' or 'give permission', it is followed by an object and the bare infinitive (infinitive without 'to').
| subject | let | object | infinitive without 'to' | complement | | You | ('ll have to) let | him | have | a discount |
Be careful: 'let' is NOT followed by 'to', and it is NOT followed by an -ing form:
The teacher let us to leave early - WRONG
The teacher let us leaving early - WRONG
The teacher let us leave early - RIGHT
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| Allow has a similar meaning to 'let'. When Helen's dad says 'Helen, you know I can't allow it', he means that he can't give permission.
Allow can be used in 2 ways:
1. It is followed by an object. The object can be a noun, or it can be an -ing form.
| subject | allow | object | complement | She
He | won't allow
doesn't allow | a party
smoking | in this house
in the office |
2. It is followed by an object (noun or pronoun) and the infinitive with 'to'.
| subject | allow | object | infinitive with 'to' | complement | | She | won't allow | us | to have | a party |
Be careful: in this pattern, the object is NOT followed by an -ing form:
The teacher allowed us leaving early - WRONG
The teacher allowed us to leaving early - WRONG
The teacher allowed us to leave early - RIGHT
Passive forms are also possible.
Smoking is not allowed in this building
You are not allowed to smoke in this building
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| knock a bit off
reduce slightly
to cost a fortune
to be very expensive
keep on (v)
continue
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