蜜芽传媒

This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.


You are in:	> The Flatmates

Learning English - The Flatmates

蜜芽传媒page

Language Point

Quiz

Talk

Make, let, allow

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

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

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

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