make things happen

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

  1. “Having Adam Johnson in their team always helps, because he makes things happen and Connor Wickham is putting the chances away.”
  2. “The most successful leaders believe in their ability to make things happen - to follow their dreams and to transform those dreams into reality.”

Both seem understandable, 1) sounding more like ‘create possibilities’, 2) closer to ‘make a difference’. How would you define the ‘make things happen’?

2

For me,

  1. it close to the meaning of [to take the opportunity / take the chance and likely to succeed.]
  2. it close to the meaning “influence”
3

I’m not sure you’d agree but to me it is a ‘loaded’ expression. A definition I found satisfactory says: Do all that is necessary to obtain the desired result. Another one reads: Do something and complete it.
Still, I see nuances.
I. …who informs him that he is ‘obsolete’ because he does not ‘know how to make things happen.’ It is doubtful however if this is how you will really make things happen which is what management is really about. I will always make people angry or happy because I make things happen. [=Do all that is necessary to obtain the desired result ]
II. Not everyone can play the role of a facilitator, who, like ‘the invisible man’, helps to make things happen. A plan is meant to make things happen — not just describe what is happening anyway. I am delighted to see that lots of improvements are happening within the business and that people are not waiting for ‘Felcourt’ to make things happen — the best initiatives start in the field and are developed by enthusiastic individuals… You have to make things happen, not let them get mentioned, discussed and then forgotten.[= To do something and complete it]

III. These are competitors, salesmen, traders — they go out and make things happen. It is people who make things happen, it is people who bring that special ingredient of fun and fellowship. We have joint liaison and joint planning systems which should make things happen. The words on my ‘flimsy’[ not reliable or easy to believe] were ‘Lieutenant Harvey-Jones is an able officer, who knows how to make things happen, albeit tactfully.’ [= make a difference]

IV. This is similar to technology, which aims to make things happen rather than find out why they happen. [=be proactive]

V. In a sense, it is the counterpart of our need for autonomy: while autonomy is the freedom to make things happen, security is the freedom from things we do not want to happen. [= make dreams come true]

VI. He’s a young fighter, but not as aggressive as Bowe and I would have to make things happen with him.[= he could be vulnerable]

??

4

I would define both original sentences in the same way… create possibilities.

5

Thank you, Bev.
Would you spare a second glancing casually at the something I came up with?

6

For completion I should probably have added ‘creates possibilities and sees them through (either himself or by facilitating the situation for others to see things through)’
which would equate to ‘does what is necessary to complete something.’

Eugene, the examples you provide all carry that general meaning. The nuances you refer to relate to the individual contexts. Once a phrase is placed in a context, it seems natural to me that further nuances can often be deciphered, however for me the additional inferences and deductions you make don’t affect that basic definition. In that sense, I don’t feel it is any more of a loaded expression than any other expressions might be.

Context is King - I’ve said it many times. It is the context that brings vocabulary, patterns and phrases to life.

7

Beeesneees has always been in
Earnest and surely deserves to be
Vaunted!

(I promised.) :wink:

8

LOL, Eugene.