[Grammar] Made mistake

[Checkmate]

You can't say "I did a mistake", the correct one is "I made a mistake". However, I have seen people say "I did my homework".

Both "mistake" and "homework" are noun but what makes them different?

 

[Rover_KE]

It's a matter of collocation - knowing which nouns go with which verbs.

'Sausages' and 'wardrobes' are both nouns, but we can't say 'I had wardrobes for breakfast'.

Surely it's the same in your native language?

 

[MikeNewYork]

You can say "I did make a mistake".

 

[Checkmate]

It's a matter of collocation - knowing which nouns go with which verbs.

'Sausages' and 'wardrobes' are both nouns, but we can't say 'I had wardrobes for breakfast'.

Surely it's the same in your native language?

So, this post is about vocabulary.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you consider collocations to be about vocabulary, then yes. I consider them part of grammar. Sometimes, you just have to learn which words go with which words.

I made breakfast.
I made a mistake.
I made good time.

I did my homework.
I did the washing up earlier.
I did something lovely for a friend.

The simple answer to your first post is that "to make" is a verb, "to do" is a verb, and "to make a mistake" is an accepted/grammatical/well-used collocation, almost making it a verb in its own right.

 

[Tdol]

Do is often used with the process or activity - I did the cooking - and make with the result - I made dinner. However, this is not a fixed rule and there are exceptions.