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Who writes Wikipedia? Let, make and allow + someone for permission and rules

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches let, make and allow for permission and rules, through the volunteers who write and check Wikipedia.

Grammar
Let and make + someone + base form (It lets anyone edit. It doesn't make you sign up.) and allow + someone + to + verb (It allows readers to check sources.), with questions and negatives.
Topic
How Wikipedia works: who writes it, who can edit it and why facts need sources, with words such as edit, source, version and opinion.
Activities
Episode notes to read, a library editing day and a listener's question to hear, five self-checking drills, a teacher's chat and open boxes about rules.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Click, type, edit!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: who writes an encyclopedia?VocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Reading: anyone can edit!

    • Look at the photo: editing togetherPictureUnlock
    • Read the text: this week's episode notesArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Listen: source, please!

    • Listen to Jade and MalcolmListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: Gordon's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen to Gordon and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: It lets anyone edit

    • Study the scheme: let, make and allowGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: let, make or allowFill in the gapsTry it
    • Choose the correct option: let or make?Choose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the table: say it with let, make or allowFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the right sentenceQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: who makes the rules?

    • Choose the right replies: rules for sourcesChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: who makes the rules?Open the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Find the matching pairsMemory gameUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: let, make and allowChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: make sentences with let, make and allowFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: our answer to GordonChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: a library noticeDrag and dropUnlock

32 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • encyclopedia
  • article
  • source
  • account
  • footnote
  • version
  • expert
  • donation
  • opinion

Grammar: let, make and allow + someone

Let, make and allow talk about rules and permission. Let and allow mean you can; make means you must, with no choice. With a free encyclopedia that almost anyone can edit, learners name who gets the permission or the duty, choose between the base form and to, and ask questions with do and does.

It lets anyone edit.

let and allow = permission: you can. make = you must, you have no choice. Always say who!

Three verbs, three patterns

Let and make take someone + the base form: Wikipedia lets anyone edit. My teacher makes us check two sources. Allow needs to before the verb: Wikipedia allows readers to check sources. With he, she and it, add -s: lets, makes, allows.

Three verbs, three patterns

VerbPatternExample
let ✅ = you canlet + someone + base formWikipedia lets anyone edit.
make ❗ = you mustmake + someone + base formMy teacher makes us check two sources.
allow ✅ = you canallow + someone + to + base formWikipedia allows readers to check sources.

Every person

Wholet + someone + verbmake + someone + verballow + someone + to + verb
II let my sister use my laptop.I make her ask first.I don't allow her to eat near it.
youYou let your dog sleep on the bed.You make him wait for his food.You allow him to play in the yard.
he (Malcolm)He lets new editors ask questions.He makes them use sources.He allows them to sit anywhere.
she (Riley)She lets Footnote sleep on the desk.She makes Jade fact-check everything.She doesn't allow Darius to eat near the microphones.
it (Wikipedia)It lets you edit without an account.It doesn't make you sign up.It allows readers to see every version.
we (the hosts)We let listeners send voice messages.We make guests wear headphones.We allow Footnote to walk on the keyboard.
they (the rules)They let anyone share the text.They make editors use published sources.They don't allow editors to add opinions.

Let or make: a choice or no choice?

Let means you can if you want: Mom lets me stay up late on Fridays. Make means you have to: Mom makes me wash the dishes. So it's Riley makes Jade fact-check every story, because Jade has no choice.

let = you can (if you want) 😊

  • Mom lets me stay up late on Fridays.
  • Wikipedia lets you edit without an account.
  • The library lets us use its laptops.

make = you must (no choice) 😩

  • Mom makes me wash the dishes.
  • The rules make editors use sources.
  • Riley makes Jade fact-check every story.

Questions and negatives with do and does

Use do or does, and the verb goes back to its base form: Does Wikipedia make you sign up? – No, it doesn't. The rules don't allow editors to add opinions. What does the History page let you see?

QuestionAnswer
Does Wikipedia make you sign up?No, it doesn't. It doesn't make you sign up.
Does your teacher let you use your phone?Yes, she does. She lets us use it for projects.
Do the rules allow editors to add opinions?No, they don't. They don't allow editors to add them.
What does the History page let you see?It lets you see every earlier version.

Always say who

A person or a pronoun follows each verb: It lets you edit, not It lets to edit; It allows you to edit, not It allows to edit. No to after let or make: It lets anyone edit, not lets anyone to edit.

Always say who

After let, make and allow, say who: a name, a noun or me, you, him, her, it, us, them. It lets you edit. Riley makes us check. Not: It lets to edit. Not: It allows to edit. After let and make, no to: lets anyone edit. After allow, use to: allows readers to check.

Common mistakes

  • It lets anyone to edit.

    It lets anyone edit.

    let + someone + base form, no to

  • It makes you to sign up.

    It makes you sign up.

    make + someone + base form, no to

  • It allows readers check sources.

    It allows readers to check sources.

    allow + someone + to

  • It lets to edit. / It allows to edit.

    It lets you edit. / It allows you to edit.

    say who: you, us, people…

Be allowed to and the past

Be allowed to says the same from the other side: Wikipedia allows readers to check sources = Readers are allowed to check sources. The past forms are let, made and allowed: Last year, my teacher made us read ten books.

be allowed to and the past

You know be allowed to. It says the same thing from the other side: Wikipedia allows readers to check sources. = Readers are allowed to check sources. Past forms: let → let, make → made, allow → allowed. Last year, my teacher made us read ten books.

At the editing day

  • Wikipedia lets almost anyone edit.
  • It doesn't make you sign up.
  • The History page lets readers see every earlier version.
  • The rules don't allow editors to add their own opinions.
  • They make editors use published sources.
  • Riley makes Jade fact-check everything!

More lessons on this grammar: Gerunds and infinitives lessons and exercises

Try the let, make and allow exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 18 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say what someone can do with let: Wikipedia lets almost anyone edit. The library lets us use its laptops.
  • say what someone must do with make: The rules make editors use published sources. Riley makes Jade fact-check everything!
  • use allow with to: The History page allows readers to see every earlier version. The rules don't allow editors to add opinions.
  • ask and answer with do and does: Does Wikipedia make you sign up? – No, it doesn't.
  • avoid lets anyone to edit, makes you to sign up and allows to edit, and always say who

Lesson 16 closes Life online, unit 4 of English B1.1 · Stories That Travel. It builds on A2.2 lesson 23, which taught be allowed to for class-trip rules, and on lessons 14 and 15, where be supposed to, ought to and had better covered rules and advice online. Lesson 17 opens Screen and page with -ed and -ing adjectives. A website that lets almost anyone edit, but makes editors back up every fact, needs all three verbs.

Students spin a wheel of questions about looking things up online, then learn twelve words, from edit and sign up to footnote and donation, with pictures and audio. The episode notes explain who writes Wikipedia, with true-or-false statements and a quiz. At a library editing day, Malcolm, a volunteer editor, explains why Jade can't add her opinion of Footnote, and Gordon, a college student from Ohio, asks about his professor's rule; both are AI-voiced. Five self-checking drills follow the scheme, among them a choice between let and make in clear situations. In the speaking chapter, a teacher messages the student about project sources, and open boxes ask who makes the rules.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, a memory game, an anagram and a word gap-fill, then a choice of patterns, gaps that build sentences from prompts, sentences to order, a quiz on form and meaning, the hosts' answer to Gordon and a library notice with words to drag in.

Grammar:
let + object + base form · make + object + base form · allow + object + to · questions and negatives
Topic:
Wikipedia · online encyclopedias · editing · volunteers · sources · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Start with house rules: students say one thing their family lets them do and one thing it makes them do. Write the sentences in two columns, let and make, then add allow with to.
  • Before the episode notes, take a class vote: who writes Wikipedia, paid writers in an office or volunteers? Darius and Riley made the same bet, and the notes say who won.
  • Play the editing-day dialogue twice: first for what Jade wants to add, then for each rule. Students rewrite one rule with be allowed to: Editors aren't allowed to add opinions.
  • After the chat, compare school rules: pairs list what their school lets students do, makes them do and doesn't allow them to do, then report the strangest rule to the class.

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The whole course: English B1.1 · Stories That Travel

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, each built around a true story. Riley, Jade and Darius make a podcast in Kansas City about true American stories, and each lesson tells one, from a seaplane airport in Alaska to the Marfa Lights of West Texas. Learners compare the present perfect with the past simple, use future forms, modals and quantifiers, and give their own opinions. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Travel smart

    the present perfect vs the past simple, for and since, indirect questions, be used to and get used to

    1. Lesson 1Would you visit an airport just for fun?Present perfect vs past simple
    2. Lesson 2Would you sleep in a 300-year-old inn?For and since with the present perfect
    3. Lesson 3My suitcase has gone to Honolulu!Indirect questions for polite requests
    4. Lesson 4Can you practice a flight?Be used to and get used to

  2. Unit 2 Dream jobs, new jobs

    will have to and won't be allowed to, the present perfect continuous, simple vs continuous, would vs used to

    1. Lesson 5Would you jump off a moving boat for a job?Will have to, will be able to and will be allowed to
    2. Lesson 6Working from anywherePresent perfect continuous
    3. Lesson 7Could you be a camp counselor?Present perfect simple vs continuous
    4. Lesson 8Would you live in a lighthouse?Would vs used to for the past

  3. Unit 3 Space and discovery

    it's + adjective + to, What's it like to…?, future forms compared, future time clauses, too and enough + to

    1. Lesson 9What's it like to work in space?It's + adjective + to and What's it like to…?
    2. Lesson 10Who will walk on the Moon next?Future forms compared by meaning
    3. Lesson 11A message for the starsFuture time clauses
    4. Lesson 12A helicopter on Mars?Too and enough + to-infinitive

  4. Unit 4 Life online

    the more…, the more…, be supposed to, ought to and had better, let, make and allow

    1. Lesson 13The internet's first word was “LO”Comparative and comparative; the more…, the more…
    2. Lesson 14Who sent the first spam?Be supposed to for rules, expectations and plans
    3. Lesson 15Is your password really safe?Ought to and had better for advice and warnings
    4. Lesson 16 · you're hereWho writes Wikipedia?Let, make and allow + someone

  5. Unit 5 Screen and page

    -ed and -ing adjectives, gradable and extreme adjectives, present tenses for a plot, articles for things in general

    1. Lesson 17Why do readers still love Nancy Drew?-ed and -ing adjectives for feelings
    2. Lesson 18Movie night in your carGradable and extreme adjectives
    3. Lesson 19Would you review a book on TV?Present tenses to tell a plot
    4. Lesson 20Where are the books about girls like me?Articles for things in general and specific things

  6. Unit 6 Green living

    few and a few, little and a little, all, most, some and none, each and every, fewer and less

    1. Lesson 21A year's trash in one jar?Few, a few, little and a little
    2. Lesson 22No food in the trash!All, most, some and none (of)
    3. Lesson 23A farm in the middle of DetroitEach and every
    4. Lesson 24A trash collector with googly eyesFewer and less

  7. Unit 7 Sporting moments

    could, was able to and managed to, for, during and while, present tenses for live commentary, question tags

    1. Lesson 25From a leg brace to three goldsCould, was able to and managed to
    2. Lesson 26A doctor and an Olympic champion?For, during and while
    3. Lesson 27Who's that runner coming from behind?Present simple and continuous for live commentary
    4. Lesson 28Why do high jumpers go backward?Question tags

  8. Unit 8 Mysteries and lost worlds

    both… and, either… or and neither… nor, uncountable nouns, how sure we are about the future, unless, as long as and in case

    1. Lesson 29A calendar made of posts?Both… and, either… or, neither… nor
    2. Lesson 30What was the Great House for?Uncountable abstract nouns
    3. Lesson 31What does Newspaper Rock say?Certainty about the future
    4. Lesson 32What are the Marfa Lights?Unless, as long as and in case

Questions about this lesson

How do you use let, make and allow?
Each verb takes a person or thing, then the verb. After let and make, use the base form: Wikipedia lets anyone edit. My teacher makes us check two sources. After allow, add to: Wikipedia allows readers to check sources. Let and allow give permission; make means there's no choice. The B1 lesson Who writes Wikipedia? on edio.ai teaches all three.
What's the difference between let and make?
Let means you can; make means you must. Mom lets me stay up late on Fridays: I'm allowed to, if I want. Mom makes me wash the dishes: I have no choice. Both take the base form with no to. A drill in Who writes Wikipedia? on edio.ai gives a clear situation for each sentence, such as Darius losing a bet and having to wash the studio mugs.
What's the difference between let and allow?
They mean almost the same, but only allow takes to: The library lets us use its laptops. The library allows us to use its laptops. Both can also be said from the other side with be allowed to: We're allowed to use the library's laptops. A table in Who writes Wikipedia?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, has students rewrite rules like this with each verb.
Is it "let me go" or "let me to go"?
It's let me go, with no to: let and make take the base form straight after the person. So It lets anyone edit, not lets anyone to edit, and It makes you sign up, not makes you to sign up. Allow is the one that needs to: It allows readers to check sources, not allows readers check.
What are some examples of let, make and allow?
These come from Who writes Wikipedia?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai: Wikipedia lets almost anyone edit. It doesn't make you sign up. The rules make editors use published sources. The rules don't allow editors to add their own opinions. Riley makes Jade fact-check everything! The past forms are let, made and allowed: Last summer, the camp made us swim every morning.
How does Wikipedia work?
Volunteers write, edit and check the articles, and almost anyone can edit most of them, with or without an account. Every change is saved on a History page, so editors can usually undo a bad one. Facts need published sources that readers can check, and personal opinions aren't allowed. The Wikimedia Foundation, a US nonprofit, keeps the servers running and builds the software, but it doesn't write the articles.
Who started Wikipedia, and when?
Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger started it, and it went online on January 15, 2001, in English. It began as a side project of Nupedia, an encyclopedia written only by experts that finished just 12 articles in its first year. Wikipedia now exists in more than 300 languages. Its name joins wiki, a Hawaiian word for “quick,” and encyclopedia.
How do I teach let, make and allow to B1 students?
Begin with rules from students' own lives: what parents, teachers or coaches let them do and make them do. Then add allow as the pattern with to, and turn each rule around with be allowed to. Who writes Wikipedia? on edio.ai goes from a library editing day to the scheme, a let-or-make choice and a table that rewrites rules with each verb.
What's a good game for practicing let, make and allow?
Play You're the teacher: a student opens a box and invents three class rules, one each with let, make and allow, and the class votes for the fairest. Another box in Who writes Wikipedia? on edio.ai becomes a guessing game: a student says one fact and one opinion about their town, and a partner guesses which is which.
What's good homework for let, make and allow?
Good homework mixes pattern drills with a real notice: gaps such as My older sister ___ (let / I / borrow) her bike on weekends, sentences to order, and a library notice on project rules with words to drag in. All ten homework tasks in Who writes Wikipedia? on edio.ai check themselves, including the hosts' answer to a listener whose professor has strict rules about sources.
How do you practice let, make and allow one-to-one?
Compare childhood rules with today's: the student says what their parents let and made them do as a child, then what their job or school allows now, and the teacher follows up with Did they let you…? The chat in Who writes Wikipedia?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, needs no partner: Leslie, a teacher, asks about project sources and class rules.
Are there interactive exercises for let, make and allow?
Yes. This page plays three parts of Who writes Wikipedia?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: Jade's talk with Malcolm at the library editing day, a gap-fill that builds let, make and allow sentences from prompts, and a teacher's chat about sources. Each gap is marked the moment it's filled. The whole lesson opens with an account.
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