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make up my mind : meaning?

What is the meaning of that sentence?

"I could do anything if I could make up my mind to..."

PS: Here are some related free lessons to learn English: Tutorial: Tonga Timeline — Phrasal Verbs and their Equivalent — Mood vs Tense — How to Pronounce H

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AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgAugust 2020
"to make one's mind up" - to make a decision, usually after thinking for some time.

Specifically, "I could do anything if I could make up my mind to..." = "if I can make decisions about anything, then I can do everything".

The syntax is "to make up one's mind about doing sth / to do sth."

The difference is "to do sth" - a decision to start it AND complete it.

"about doing sth" - the decision to perform the task, ongoing.

So, in the expression "I could do anything if I could make up my mind to..." - note the "to".

It is short for "I could do anything if I could make up my mind to do anything" - the second "do anything" is redundant because of repetition.

Now, it's easy to see that it's all about making decisions to start AND finish things, not just doing them for some time
  • vincent profile picture vincentAugust 2020
    Are you a native speaker? it does not matter because non native speakers can know a lot as you do
  • AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgAugust 2020
    I know a little about English I guess.

    At some point, I'll start asking questions about other languages here