Put a lot of effort

[Paulys]

Which one of these sentences look more natural? "I didn't put a lot of effort into getting higher mark." "I didn't put a lot of effort to get higher mark."

 

[Rover_KE]

Neither of those looks or sounds natural.

'I didn't put a lot of effort into getting a higher mark.'

 

[emsr2d2]

If you want to use "to get", then say "I didn't make a lot of effort to get a higher mark".

 

[BobK]

I'd be happier with Rover's suggestion. I agree that make is a strong collocation with effort, but so is 'put a lot of ... into'

b

PS These came from BNC:

'make an ...' expressions with more than 50 hits:

1 MAKE AN ORDER 120
2 MAKE AN APPOINTMENT 101
3 MAKE AN EFFORT 89
4 MAKE AN IMPACT 72
5 MAKE AN OFFER 68
... etc etc

'make the ...' expressions with more than 50 hits:

1 MAKE THE POINT 136
2 MAKE THE DECISION 90
3 MAKE THE MISTAKE 66
4 MAKE THE EFFORT 63
5 MAKE THE FINAL 63
6 MAKE THE RIGHT 62
7 MAKE THE DIFFERENCE 61
8 MAKE THE GRADE 52
... etc etc.

The numbers here (for 'put a lot of *') are much smaller, but 'effort' is by far the most common:

1 PUT A LOT OF EFFORT 11
2 PUT A LOT OF TIME 7
3 PUT A LOT OF WORK 7
4 PUT A LOT OF MONEY 6
5 PUT A LOT OF PRESSURE 4
6 PUT A LOT OF THOUGHT 4
7 PUT A LOT OF MILK 2
8 PUT A LOT OF PEOPLE 2
9 PUT A LOT OF EMPHASIS 2
10 PUT A LOT OF ENERGY 2
11 PUT A LOT OF FAITH 2
... etc. These are the only ones with more than a single hit.

 

[BobK]

I wonder if there are any cultural conclusions to be drawn from these COCA examples:

1 PUT A LOT OF PRESSURE 89
2 PUT A LOT OF MONEY 58
3 PUT A LOT OF TIME 52
4 PUT A LOT OF EFFORT 50
...

Do American speakers tend to say more about pressure, money, and time than about effort, whereas among speakers of Br E effort comes way out in front:-?;-) (Just wondering...)

b