Make after

Question

Is 'make after' a phrasal verb? I can't find a definiotion of it but I came across it in a sentence: 'The thief ran but the police made (after) him and caught him'

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Good question! In the expression "made after" in the example sentence, the word "made" means something close to "ran". "The police ran after him" does not contain a phrasal verb. "ran" is the verb; "after" is a preposition. However, "made after" as a unit can be glossed as "pursued", which makes it seem more like a phrasal verb. And yet, "made him after" is impossible, so it must be a non-separable phrasal verb, if it is one at all.

I'd say it is not a phrasal verb, and if it is, it's not a very typical one.

CJ

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello M88

You are right. 'Make after someone' can be a phrase meaning 'pursue/follow someone'.
(EX) They made after the king in hopes of going back home.
But, as CJ said, note this 'after' is a preposition rather than an adverbial particle.
So you can never separate 'make' and 'after'.
(x) They made him after in hopes of going back home.
(o) They made after him in hopes of going back home.

paco

Maverick88 · Answer

I see...Thank you !

Pieanne · Answer

Can we relate it to "he made it to the door"?

Maverick88 · Answer

Yeah, due to Pieanne's reply I have another Q:
He 'made it to' the door.
Is 'make to' a phrasal verb? It is used in the same meaning as 'make for' the door, isn't it? Do they mean the same?

Pieanne · Answer

Hi, M88!
I think there's a difference between
1. he made it to the door = he ran to the door, he reached the door, he managed to reach the door
and
2. he made for the door = he ran in the direction of the door, but nobody tells us whether he reached it or not
Anyway, they seem to belong to the same race as "to make after"... Let's see what the teachers have to tell us!

Pieanne · Answer

BTW: is it related "to" or "with" ?

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello M88 and Pieanne

'Make' has a wide variety of senses and so I sometimes feel it difficult to catch the sense of the verb. The main sense of original English 'make' ('macian' in Old English) was 'arrange'. However, as being later regarded as a cognate of Latin 'facer' (main sense: produce) and Old Norse 'macan' ['maka' in modern Swedish] (main sense: move), 'make' got varied in the senses.

The intransitive uses of 'make' in the sense 'go/be ready to go' with directional prepositions came from the sense of Old Norse 'macan' and it was originally used as a reflexive transitive verb. She made her(self) after him = She moved herself after him = She followed him. The phrasal verbs of this kind are 'make against/at X' (=attack X), 'make for X'(=go for X), "make to/towards/unto X" (=go to X), "make with X" (=side with X).

The idiomatic phrase "make it" seems a little different etymologically from those prepositional phrasal verbs above described. In 17 century English navigators began to use 'make X' in the sense of 'reach/arrive at X'. The weary Trojans made the Libyan shores [Dryden :'Aeneid' 1697]. The use of 'make it (to X)' in the sense of "succeed in attaining at somewhere or catching something" started rather recently. It first appeared in Howell's "Siphas Laphan"(1885). He jumped on board the steamboat.. 'Just made it' he said. The expression of "make it (with X)" in the sense of "successfully achieve sexual intercourse with X" first appeared in Kerouac's 'On Road' (1957). They went to a parking lot in broad daylight and there he made it with her.

paco

Pieanne · Answer

Hello, Paco!
In your latter example "he made it with her", couldn't we say that "it" is a mere pronoum, used out of modesty so that you don't have to write "he made LOVE" or whatever?

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Pieanne

In your latter example "he made it with her", couldn't we say that "it" is a mere pronoun, used out of modesty so that you don't have to write "he made LOVE" or whatever?

Do you mean "make it with" is a euphemism for "make love with"? You might be right. But I'm wondering why every dictionary explains this meaning along with "successfully attaining at a goal". [url="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=make"]Dictionary com[/url], for example,
says about make it as;
1) be successful 2) have sexual intercourse.
and about make love as;
1) engage in amorous caressing. 2) engage in sexual intercourse.

There seems to be some difference in the usage of "make it with someone" and "make love with someone". If you make a Google survey over those phrases, you'll get results as follows.
"make it with her" ... 21500 hits "make it with him" ....789 hits
"make love with her" ...995 hits "make love with him" ....4820 hits
The uses of two phrase appeare to be biased between male and female speakers. And I feel rather "make love with someone" is a female euphemism for the male's phrase of "make it with someone". But, as you know well, I'm a mere English learner, and so I'm not sure about it. I'd like to hear about it from people who are well acquainted with this kind of phrase.

paco

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