To Make

Did you know that a total of 69 players were used during Brazil’s World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign? That number is almost enough to make up 6 teams, each one complete with 7 reserves on the bench!

But only 23 of those players made the final roster.

The verb to make has multiple senses. A major “umbrella of meaning” of this verb connotes the idea of creating, building, producing and preparing. For example:

• to make a fire / a dress / a cake / cars / noise / a mistake, etc.

Another broad “umbrella of meaning” of the verb to make has to do with the idea of arriving somewhere or being able to reach a place – and, by extension, being successful in something, being accepted into a group. This is the meaning used in the sentence “only 23 players made the final roster” above. Here are more examples:

I don’t know if I’ll be able to make that meeting.
[Não sei se vou conseguir ir à reunião]

We just made our flight.
[Chegamos a tempo de pegar nosso voo]

As the gatekeeper closed the gate behind us, Maria looked at me and said, “Dude, we just made it!” I took that as a sign that we’d do well on the college entrance exam.”
[Quando o porteiro fechou o portão logo que entramos, a Maria olhou pra mim e disse: “Cara, entramos por pouco!” Eu tomei aquilo como sinal de que iríamos fazer uma boa prova de vestibular.]

The team made the play-offs last year.
[O time chegou às finais no ano passado]


The phrase ‘to make it’ is also used to mean:

1. to reach a place or a goal:

“Hey, Martha! I’m glad you could make it to the party”
[E aí, Martha! Que bom que você pôde vir à festa!”]

If we hurry, we can still make it home before dark.
[Se corrermos, ainda conseguimos chegar em casa antes de escurecer]


2. to not fail or die; to survive:

Many new businesses don’t make it through their first year.
[Muitas empresas novas não conseguem sobreviver o primeiro ano.]

He’s very sick. The doctors don’t think he’s going to make it.
[Ele está muito doente. Os médicos acham que ele não vai sobreviver.]


3. to become successful:

It’s tough to succeed in this business, but if you work hard you’ll make it eventually.
[É difícil se dar bem neste ramo, mas se você se esforçar, você vai conseguir vencer mais cedo ou mais tarde]

He made it big in real estate.
[Ele se deu muito bem como corretor de imóvel]


Note: Most example sentences used here were taken from Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary.