[Grammar] it's the little things we do together and for each other that make community matter.

[kadioguy]

What We Do Together Matters

(My name XXX), it's the little things we do together and for each other that make community matter. From all of us at Facebook, here's a video celebrating how you and your community are better together.
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1. Does 'that' in blue refer to 'the little things'?

2. Does the first sentence mean the following?

a. It's the little things that make community matter
b. We do the little things together and for each other

a.+b.→c. it's the little things we do together and for each other that make community matter.
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[kadioguy]

It's these little things that make community matter.

I would think that the construction of make community matter is "make somebody/something do something". Am I right?

-------
make somebody/something do something
to cause somebody/something to do something

She always makes me laugh.
This dress makes me look fat.
What makes you say that (= why do you think so)?
Nothing will make me change my mind.

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/make_1?q=make

 

[kadioguy]

I would think that the construction of make community matter is "make somebody/something do something". Am I right?

-------
make somebody/something do something
to cause somebody/something to do something

She always makes me laugh.
This dress makes me look fat.
What makes you say that (= why do you think so)?
Nothing will make me change my mind.

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/make_1?q=make

I would think the following:

"... make community matter" fits "make somebody/something do something". (Please note the text colors.)

Am I right?

 

[Tdol]

You're not wrong.

 

[kadioguy]

You're not wrong.

Pardon me, but what is the difference between them?

a. "Not wrong"
b. "Right"

 

[Raymott]

In a sense you are wrong, I'd say. The community is not "somebody", and there is a wide spectrum in the use of "make". "Make somebody/something do something" is not the meaning I would attribute to "It's the little things that make a community matter."
Your examples are causative verbs, and these are defined as verbs that describe making somebody/something happen."
In "Nothing will make me change my mind", the usage means 'force'. "Nothing will force me to change my mind."
The community sentence doesn't mean "It's the little things that force a community to matter." Nothing is forcing the community to matter. The sentence is explaining what it is about community that makes it matter.
"It's the sugar that makes ice cream sweet." But sugar doesn't force ice cream against its will to be sweet. This sentence means, "The thing about ice cream that makes it sweet is sugar." That is, like the community sentence.

Look up causative verbs.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-are-causative-verbs-in-english-definition-examples.html
http://www.euenglish.hu/2016/01/causative/

I'd argue that "make" is not causative in "It's the little things that make a community matter", but is in "Nothing will make me change my mind."
Others might disagree.
My guess is that you are going to continue to be sort of right and sort of wrong when you look for phrases that sort of look something similar to the index phrase and ask if they mean the same, or belong to the same semantic structure.

 

[jutfrank]

I agree with Raymott in the post above. It's not appropriate to think of this sentence as causative in meaning.

We use make in this way to say something like mean that it is. Often, this use employs the structure make + something + adjective or make + something + noun, not make + something + verb.

Just because you enjoy it, it doesn't make it right. (= it doesn't mean that it is right)
The fact that it sounds good doesn't make it true. (= it doesn't mean that it is true)
What makes it a priority is that we can't survive without it. (= the fact we can't survive means that it is a priority)
That fact that its only factors are itself and one makes it a prime number. (= means that it is a prime number)

In my opinion, it's not a good model sentence to study because it doesn't make good sense (to me at least). Is the sentence saying that the fact that community is important is something that we can conclude from the observation that we do little things for each other? Possibly, but I'm not sure how many people would agree. If anything, we do things for each other precisely because community is important to us.

Normally, when we say 'something matters', we mean that the something is important, or that it plays an instrumental part in something. Possibly the writer of the sentence is thinking of the structure what makes community important. But even then, it still doesn't make sense. Or possibly (and this is wild speculation) the writer is getting distracted by the expression it's the little things that make a difference. I don't know.

I think the whole sentence is a mess and doesn't have a clear sense.

 

[kadioguy]

My guess is that you are going to continue to be sort of right and sort of wrong when you look for phrases that sort of look something similar to the index phrase and ask if they mean the same, or belong to the same semantic structure.

Yes, but I have no choice other than to do so. As an ESL learner, I have to find authoritative explanations when I encounter problems or difficulties. In this case, "... make community matter" was the structure which confused me, so I looked up a dictionary to find a possible answer. This is why you may find that I "look for phrases that sort of look something similar to the index phrase and ask if they mean the same, or belong to the same semantic structure".

If there is a better way to learn, please let me know. I will be glad to hear it. :up:

Crossposted with jutfrank

 

[kadioguy]

In a sense you are wrong, I'd say. The community is not "somebody", and there is a wide spectrum in the use of "make". "Make somebody/something do something" is not the meaning I would attribute to "It's the little things that make a community matter."

I'd argue that "make" is not causative in "It's the little things that make a community matter", but is in "Nothing will make me change my mind."

I agree with Raymott in the post above. It's not appropriate to think of this sentence as causative in meaning.

We use make in this way to say something like mean that it is. Often, this use employs the structure make + something + adjective or make + something + noun, not make + something + verb.

I agree with you all. But if so, how do you think about the structure of this sentence in this section? :shock:

"... make community matter"

 

[Tdol]

You could also say make community important.