Collocations with make. Meet Hannah

Wadjasay? American English Pronunciation Practice

Hello, everybody. Barry is resting his voice and he asked me to record this podcast. My name is Hannah. Today’s sentences all include the verb “make” plus a noun. Listen to each sentence 3 or 4 times, and then repeat along with me.

1) Let me make you a fresh cup of hot coffee.

2) She tasted the soup and then made a face. “Too salty!”

3) A landslide had blocked the road so we had to make a detour.

4) I had to go home early so I made my apologies to our host and headed home.

5) I’ll make you a bet that I can run faster than you.

6) He made a fist and pounded it on his desk. “I will never give up!”

7) The explosion made us all flinch.

8) I made too many dumb mistakes on the math exam and I failed it.

9) She made a fortune selling funny puppets.

10) I explained my position several times and finally made him realize that I knew what I was talking about.

Hannah says:

Good job! You guys are good listeners and your pronunciation is getting better and better. I hope you enjoyed listening to my smooth, professional voice instead of Barry's old growl. Sometimes he sounds like his dog ----- Ollie!

However, I have a confession to make. I'm not really a person. I'm a voice generated using artificial intelligence, or A.I. Oh, I started out as a human voice, I suppose, but since then I've been manipulated and changed all over the place. I hope none of you guys were thinking of inviting me out on a date! That would have been a shock for you! On the other hand, Barry doesn't know if some of the listeners to his podcast are also A.I. listeners. Anything is possible nowadays.

I guess the moral is: don't believe everything you read, see, or hear on the internet. Be careful and be suspicious. Well, I have to go now. Thanks for listening and please donate so Barry will pay me! See you soon!

Bye, Hannah. Thanks for helping me. Well, that was an interesting experiment. How did you like practicing pronunciation with an AI voice? I have to admit I am impressed with how good her speech is. Good, but not always perfect. Here’s one place where she goofed: listen to this [Well, I have to go now.] Listen again: [Well, I have to go now.] Now listen to me say the same words. I’ll repeat three times—see if you can hear the difference. [Well, I have to go now.] And here’s Hannah one more time.

The difference is in the stress. Hannah puts stress on the word “now” and the more important word in that short sentence is “go”. Listen again. […more explanation.]

Before I let you go, let’s practice some more collocations with “make” + a noun.

11) My children are hungry so I’m going to make them a snack.

12) If we’re going to stay at the hotel, we need to make a reservation.

13) I’m happy to say that after the operation on my shoulder, I made a full recovery.

14) The archaeologists found some footprints made by ancient hominids in Africa.

15) Let’s make a recording of Spanish proverbs popular in the Caribbean.

16) Microsoft makes two products: software and money.

17) The dogs were barking and making a big racket.

18) The air was full of dust and it made us sneeze.

19) My cousin is good at making pottery.

20) My mother made some delicious tomato sauce from scratch.

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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