To make a survey or to do a survey?

[Daniele Menezes]

Please,

Would somebody help me with it?
To make a survey or to do a survey?

Dani.

[Delmobile]

Casually, I would say "do a survey."

"I heard they did a survey and found out those abstinence pledges don't work."

Formally, you would say "conducted a survey."

"Our company conducted a survey of American teenagers; results are shown in the chart below."

(writer, not a teacher)

[Daniele Menezes]

Thanks!

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Daniele Menezes

Please,

Would somebody help me with it?
To make a survey or to do a survey?

Dani.

Do a survey because it is the carrying out of a task. Do is the work or the engery put into something whereas make is the product or the result.

[Delmobile]

Ah, and recently a deliberate misuse of "do" has become fashionable when referring to cooking. Women will say they are going to "do" a certain dish rather than "make" it.

"We're having Bob's cousin and his new wife over Saturday. I'm going to do that hot crab dip and maybe some marinated shrimp."

It implies a certain ease and casualness in preparing the food. It's something of an affectation in my opinion, but perhaps that's only because it's American women trying to imitate British ones.