Page 180 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

3 do...ing
We use do in the infonnal structure do . . .ing, to talk about activities that take a certain time, or are repeated (for example jobs and hobbies). There is usually a determiner (e.g. the, my, some, much) before the -ing fonn.
During the holidays I'm going to do some walking and a lot ofreading.
Let your fingers do the walking. (advertisement for telephone shopping) Note that the verb after do cannot have an object in this structure.
I'm going to watch some Tv. (NOT I'm gBirtg t6 ti6 S6me watehing n~) But do can be used with a compound noun that includes verb + object.
1 want to do some bird-watching this weekend. It's time 1 did some letter-writing.
4 make for constructing, creating etc
We often use make to talk about constructing, building, creating etc. I've just made a cake. Let's make a plan.
My father and 1 once made a boat.
S do instead of make
We sometimes use do in place of make, to sound casual about a creative activity - as if we are not claiming to produce any very special results.
What shall we eat? - Well, 1 could do an omelette. 6 common fixed expressions
do good, harm, business, one's best, a favour, sport, exercise, one's hair,
one's teeth, one's duty, 50 mph
make a journey, an offer, arrangements, a suggestion, a decision, an attempt, an effort, an excuse, an exception, a mistake, a noise, a phone call, money, a profit, a fortune, love, peace, war, a bed, a fire, progress
Note that we say make a bed, but we often talk about doing the bed(s) as part of housework. Compare:
He's old enough to make his own bed now.
I'll start on the vegetables as soon as I've done the beds.
We use take, not make, in take a photo, and have, not make, in have an (interesting) experience.
For infonnation about sentence structures with make. see 335.
161 do (4): substitute verb auxiliary verb + do
In British English (but not American), do can be used alone as a substitute verb after an auxiliary verb.
Come and stay with us. -I may (do), ifI have the time. (ArnE I may, if... OR 1maycome, if...)
He's supposed to have locked the safe. "" He has (done). (ArnE He has. OR He has locked it.)
1found myself thinking of her as I had never done before.
He didn't pass his exam, but he could have (done) if he'd tried harder. He smokes more than he used to (do).
do (4): substitute verb 161
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