Can I use "make a order" instead of "place an order"?
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
I will let more qualified persons answer your question.
I will, however, share a few ideas with you.
*****
1. When you get time, please go to the Google search engine (only) and type in:
Make/place an order - UniLang
a. I think that you will learn a lot from the discussion.
2. Only my personal thoughts:
a. I agree with Matthew Wai.
i. When I wrote that sentence, the verb "place" automatically came to mind. I did not even think of the verb "make."
ii. For me, it would be natural to say: "I wish to place an order for a dozen donuts, please." / "I wish order a dozen donuts, please."
(a) It would sound "strange" to me to say: "I wish to make an order for a dozen nuts, please." (On the other hand, it would seem very natural for a worker to say, "We are making
up (preparing) an order for a dozen donuts to be sent to The Parser.")
b. It would also sound very natural (to me, at least) to tell my family: "Ok, everyone, I am making
up ( = preparing) next week's supermarket order. Tell me what you want me to order for you (when I go the supermarket's website to
place my order for home delivery)."
c. I believe that it might be a good idea to limit "to make an order" to those cases in which it
actually means what it says: A judge makes / issues an order that The Parser must stop eating so many donuts.