Phrasal Verb Fun

make
(make, made, made)
The basic meaning of this word is 'to create'.
make for
It starts to rain hard. Somebody in the group shouts, 'Make for the trees.'
And we all run towards the trees.
This is short for 'make (a straight line) for the trees.'
MAKE FOR is an
inseparable two-word verb
and has to be followed by a place.
MAKE FOR somewhere. No problem.
make out
'Someone left a message on my voicemail, but I couldn't make it out.'
I am looking at shapes in a fog. What are they? I can't
make
a picture in
my mind that corresponds to what I see out there. I can't make out the
people. It's impossible to make them out.
'Juana is a very strange woman. I can't make her out.'
(I don't understand her.)
Separable two-word verb
Be careful.
make up
One of the meanings of
up
is 'to a higher standard' and so, of course,
when a woman makes her face up to a higher standard - to be more
beautiful - she makes up. She puts on make-up. All of this can be a great
mystery for men.
In this sense, MAKE UP is a
two-word verb without an object
No problem.
Sometimes, the real world can be a little dull and boring, so we have to
invent something. We have to make something up to a higher standard, to
be a bit more exciting. In other words, we invent a story.
'Don't believe anything that Amaryllis says. She's always making things
up.'
This MAKE UP is a
separable two-word verb
Be careful.
Yet another way we use make up is the sense of compensating for a bad

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time. After a quarrel, lovers often make up. If they don't, they are no
longer lovers. Again,
up
here means a higher standard.
Two-word verb without an object
No problem.
A common expression when somebody borrows something from you or
steals your time is 'Don't worry. I'll make it up to you.' (I will compensate
you.)
Fixed expression, but notice that with this meaning it is a
separable three-word verb
.