VOA名师答疑2023--Made and Prepositions

Made and Prepositions¹

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about the verb "made" when used with prepositions.

Question:

Hello, VOA Learning³ English,

Ask a Teacher: Made and Prepositions 

Ask a Teacher: Made and Prepositions

I hope that you are doing well.

I am very happy to be sending this email as I have been listening to this Learning English program for some time.

I would like to know more about the differences between these words:

"Made in," "made from," and "made for."

Thank you,

Abdulkadir from Somalia

Answer

Dear Abdulkadir,

Thanks for being a loyal⁴ listener of VOA Learning English. And thank you for writing to us. The verb "made" is often used with prepositions to describe how things are created or produced. Depending on the preposition², like "in," "from," or "for," the meaning of the verb changes slightly.

Let's start with the verb "made."

Made

"Made" is the past tense form of "make." It means to produce, build, or prepare something.

He made me dinner on Valentine's Day.

Sometimes we use this verb for things we cannot physically⁵ see or touch.

We made plans to study at the library.

Made with prepositions

Let's look at the examples Abdulkadir asked about: "made in," "made from" and "made for."

"Make...in," or in the past tense, "made in," means that something was produced or built in a certain place, country or city.

The company made products in the USA.

Sometimes when we use "made in" we are using the term as an adjective⁶ to describe where the products are produced.

Products made in the USA support American workers.

"Made from" describes the materials used to create or produce something. Usually these are the unprocessed or raw materials. Processing or manufacturing⁷ changes them into something new so that we cannot tell what the materials are.

Tofu is made from soybeans.

Cheese is made from cow's milk.

"Made for" is used when something is created for a specific purpose or person.

She made a cake for her friend's birthday.

Mountain bikes are not really made for the road.

Sometimes "made for" suggests that people get along very well together.

Those two were made for each other.

Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you!

What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at [email protected]

And that's Ask a Teacher.

Words in This Story

loyal – adj. having or showing complete and constant support for someone or something

raw – adj. in the natural state

tofu – n. a soft white or brown food made from soybeans.

1 prepositions   

n.介词( preposition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She lays a lot of emphasis on the usage of prepositions. 她把重点放在介词的使用上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Prepositions and conjunctions are particles. 介词和连词是小品词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 preposition   

n.介词

参考例句：

• You should cancel this preposition in the sentence.你应该删去句子中的这个介词。
• We use different preposition to talk about time,days,months and seasons.我们用不动的介词来谈论时间，日，月和季节等。

3 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

4 loyal   

adj.忠诚的，忠心的

参考例句：

• He is a loyal friend.他是一位忠诚的朋友。
• I judge him to be loyal.我认为他很忠诚。

5 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

6 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

7 manufacturing   

n.制造业，工业adj.制造业的，制造的v.（大规模）制造( manufacture的现在分词 )；捏造；加工；粗制滥造（文学作品）

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Manufacturing processes may be affected by the functionality of the product. 生产过程可能要受到产品设计目的的影响。