Make / Let / Allow
Many students often confuse the words MAKE, LET, and ALLOW.
Let’s take a closer look at the differences in their meanings!
First, the word that is most different from the other two: Make
Make is an action. Person A is forcing Person B to do something. Person B doesn’t have a choice. They have to do it.
e.g. Sarah makes her daughter tidy up her toys every day.
Let and Allow are similar, but are used in different situations:
Let means to give permission. Person A says that Person B can do this thing if they want to. It’s ok to do it; it’s an option for them.
e.g. Mike let Tony use one of his pencils during the class because Tony forgot his pencil case.
Allow is similar to Let—it also means to give permission. However, allow is often used in more formal or official contexts.
e.g. He is allowed to use that parking space because he uses a wheelchair.
You can see that allow is used in the Passive in this example.
We often use allow with passive English, because the person or group who is ‘allowing’ is often unknown.