Verbs collocating with the nouns 'act', 'deed'

Question

Hi,(1) Can I use the verbs 'do' and 'perform' in contexts like "He did a &lt;attribute&gt; act/deed yesterday" and "She has performed many &lt;attribute&gt; acts/deeds in her life".... no matter the attribute means "good" or "bad"?(2) Can I use the verb 'perpetrate' with the noun 'act'?  (e.g., 'to perpetrate a good act') ... is that English very formal?(3) Can I use 'carry out' with either 'act' or 'deed'?  ( e.g., 'to carry out a good act/deed')  ... the online collocation dictionaries i checked say nothing about 'carry out+act/deed'... on the other hand I remember seeing such use examples in some English corpora...) Thanks for your kind comments!

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

vlivef(1) Can I use the verbs 'do' and 'perform' in contexts

He did a good / an evil deed. - very very common
She performed an act of kindness. (The of-phrase is required).

You can see the various adjective collocations with deed here:

He performed a good deed.
He performed an act .

vlivef(3) Can I use 'carry out' with either 'act' or 'deed'?

It is rare, but used when the "deed" refers to a premeditated act of violence or war.

Hamlet accepts the duty of taking vengeance, but needs both to find an opportunity to carry out the deed and to convince himself that the ghost has spoken the truth and his uncle is indeed a murderer.

Second, no matter what the objective socio-political conditions that might encourage recourse to assassination, there must be those who plan and carry out the deed. Is there then an archetypical assassin?

Verbs collocating with the nouns 'act', 'deed'

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