Question re: common grammatical mistake

[brooksy1]

Hello

I wonder if someone can help me. I have noticed that often a student will make the following error:

'I'd like to make a photograph'.

I'm finding it difficult to explain exactly what the error is because I can see how easy it would be to make the mistake because 'make' is to create or produce. Is this a 'false friend/false cognate' error. My grammar textbooks don't actually provide an explanation for the error, but rather just explain that we say "I'd like to make a cake" but "I'd like to take a photograph".

Any suggestions as to how I can explain:

1. what caused the error
2. what type of error it is
3. how you would correct it

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[gfell]

This sentence is grammatically correct. "Photograph" in this instance would be a noun.

- I'd like to make a "noun".

Of course we know this is not the correct way to EXPRESS this meaning. I'm not a linguistic expert, so I can't tell you what type of error this is. I would just explain it to my students as that we never use "make" with photograph.

In Japanese, this sentence would also translate to the same as in English.

Japanese: Watashi (I) ha shasshin (photo) o torimasu (take).

Sorry I can't help out more.

[brooksy1]

Hello

Sorry I've taken so long to reply. You're right, it is grammatically correct, but we just don't use it in that instance. It's a tricky one to explain why I suppose. You have been a help, thanks for taking the time.

[AdvantageEnglish]

The only "grammatical explanation" would be that the term "TAKE" in this instance is an idiomatic expression much the same as "take care" or "take time" or perhaps more closely, "take a break" or "take a chance"... unfortunately, there's no easy rule or reason except to say that it's an idiom.

[brooksy1]

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated.