• make sth doing sth

Question

Hi!I read the following in a TOEIC book:“2. Despite 20 years of success, the financial stress and burden of the sudden recession made the partnership ______.A. failB. to failC. failedD. to be failed(Answer: A)” ((Longman Preparation Series for the New TOEIC Test, Advanced Course, 4th Edition, p. 138))I agree with the above that A is correct.If there were ‘E. failing’, would it be correct, also?I don’t think ‘failing’ would be correct, because I’ve never seen the structure “make + sth + doing sth” in any context.What do you think? Do you say “make sth doing sth”Thanks in advance.

Toms Mathew · Accepted Answer

Hi,

You are right. The anwer is A.

Thanks.

Niue · Answer

Thanks, but my question is:

"How about 'failing' for the question sentence?"

Mr Wordy · Answer

NiueIf there were ‘E. failing’, would it be correct, also?

No.

NiueWhat do you think? Do you say “make sth doing sth”

No.

(Phrases such as "make sth interesting" are possible, where the participle (the "-ing" word) is behaving as an adjective, but this is really a different thing.)

Anonymous · Answer

Why the answer C is not correct ?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

In make someone/something do something. the 'do' verb needs to be the base form of the verb

eg Mary made her son wash the dishes.

eg Poor sales made Tom's business fail.

Clive

Dimsumexpress · Answer

No, C is not correct. When we have this sentence pattern: X made Y do something. just remember, the verb after "made" always stays in its base form. i.e. He made Mary cry. = He cause Mary to cry. He made me use my crdeit card on a vacation.

• make sth doing sth

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