Difference between MADE OF / MADE FROM / MADE WITH / MADE OUT OF - Incredibly Useful English Grammar

Why do we say 'made with,' 'made out of,' 'made of,' and 'made from'?

Why do we describe what something is 'made of' in different ways in English?

Why do we say a table is 'made of wood,' but 'bread is made from flour'?

It might seem like a small detail, maybe you've never even considered it before,

but using the right preposition can make a big difference.

Today, I'm here to make sure you know which to use and why.

To make this even easier for you, I've created a free PDF to go with this video.

This is essentially a cheat sheet.

You'll find all the information from this

video with lots of extra examples and further practice.

I've included some interactive activities so that you can check your understanding.

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Right, let's begin with a quick quiz to see what you already know.

Can you complete these four sentences using the prepositions 'of,' 'out of,' 'from,'

and 'with'?

Number 1—'My wedding ring is made _ gold.'

The answer should be 'of.'

'My wedding ring is made of gold.'

That's nearly a lie.

Mine is made of white gold.

Number 2—'Paper is made _ wood.'

It should be 'from.'

'Paper is made from wood.'

Number 3—'This bag was made _ recycled

plastic bottles.'

Which preposition should go in there? 'Out

of.'

'This plastic bag was made out of recycled plastic bottles,' and the last,

number 4—'Are the croissants made_ real butter?'

It should be 'with,'—'Are the croissants

made with real butter?'

How did you do?

What was your score out of 4?

Now, we're going to go through why we use

these different prepositions.

Let's start with the first sentence.

We normally use 'made of' when you can still clearly see the material that was

used to create the object.

Here are some common materials:

'made of wood,' 'made of stone', 'made of plastic,' 'made of cardboard,' 'made of

glass,' and 'made of rubber.'

Notice how I say /əv/, not /ˈɒv/.

/əv/ is the weak form /əv/ /ˈɒv/, 'of of.'

See, there I am using it!

When you look at an object, if you can see the material in its original state,

use 'made of.'

Let's practise.

Can you complete these sentences with one of the materials on the screen?

Number 1—What are they 'made of'?

The coathangers.

Yep—'The coathangers are made of wood.'

Don't forget to use 'are made of' with

plural nouns.

Okay, let's try another.

What's it 'made of'?

The house.

'The house is made of stone.'

Okay, one more.

What's it 'made of'?

The robot.

'The robot is made of metal.'

Excellent!

We often place adjectives before the material to describe it in more detail.

For example, I might say—'The table is made of solid wood.'

That means it's 100% wood without any spaces inside.

Or you might hear—'The windows were made of frosted glass.'

This is glass which isn't transparent.

You can't see through it clearly.

Maybe the type your bathroom window is made of, so no one can peek in.

Lucy's note: 'to peek' is to look quickly; or to try to look when you know you're

not supposed to, you're not meant to, to look secretly.

Okay, one last tip.

We normally use 'made of' in a literal way

like we've just seen, but be careful.

You might also hear it used like this:

'We can't go on holiday again this year!

We're not made of money!'

'Made of money' in this context means very rich.

If you say, 'I'm not made of money,' you're

saying you aren't rich—not that  you aren't made of cash and coins.

I love these figurative expressions, and I've included a couple more in the PDF

that I know you'll want to check out, so make sure you download that.

Okay, let's move on to number 2.

Remember this sentence?

'Paper is made from wood.'

We normally use 'made from' when a material

has gone through some kind of manufacturing process.

You can't usually see the original material or materials in the new object

that's been created.

We take natural materials like wood, oil, sugar, and corn, and transform them into

something new.

Isn't that difference interesting?

Hopefully, it will really help you to understand when to use 'made of' and when

to use 'made from.'

Here are some examples.

'This essential oil is made from Bulgarian rose petals.'

You can't see the rose petals anymore.

Or—'Chocolate is made from cocoa beans.'

Or—'This wine is made from a blend of grapes.'

Okay, time for number 3.

Let's bring the third sentence back.

'This bag has been made out of recycled plastic bottles.'

Okay, so when we take a product which has already been manufactured and then

transform it into something new, we usually use the prepositions 'out of,' 'out of.'

We started off with a bunch of old plastic bottles, and because we care about

sustainability, we decided to upcycle them and create a bag.

'To upcycle' is similar to recycle, but the finished product is of a higher quality.

So you recycle paper into more paper, but you upcycle plastic bottles into a bag.

A bag is worth more than just plastic bottles.

Sometimes you can recognise the original

object in the new one, and sometimes you can't, but there's often a magical

transformation from an object with one purpose to an object with a new purpose.

Here are some more examples:

'Look at this dress I made out of an old

pair of curtains.'

It's funny when I was younger, dresses

with curtain prints were so uncool and now everyone looks like they're wearing a

pair of curtains.

Next example—'The artist made a sculpture

out of an old car, a mop and several saucepans.'

It must be modern art.

Now, before we move on, I have to say that if you mix up these prepositions,

people will still understand what you're trying to say.

I've heard loads of people say—'This table is made out of wood' or 'my bag is

made of plastic bottles.'

Don't let worrying about these

prepositions get in the way of your communication.

Right, number 4, and I've saved the

best till last.

This use is my favourite because it's

connected to food, and I love food.

So number 4, let's bring that sentence back:

'Are the croissants made with real butter?'

We often use 'made with' to describe the

ingredients we use to cook something.

For example—'This dish can be made with

fresh or frozen spinach.'

Or—'This mayonnaise is vegan friendly.

It isn't made with eggs.'

And my personal favourite—'Here's your

breakfast, darling.

It's been made with lots of love!'

So we can also use 'made with' more figuratively to talk about the love, care,

and attention we've put into something.

After all, these things are very

important ingredients too.

Okay, let's quickly recap before a final

test to see how much you've taken in.

We use 'made of (wood, metal, glass),' and so

on when you can recognise an object's material.

Use 'made from' when the material has

undergone a manufacturing process.

'Made out of' is used when we transform an 

object into something different, often with a new use or purpose, and

use 'made with' to list the ingredients used to cook 

something.

Okay, time to test your knowledge.

Here are the prepositions you can use, 'of,' 'from,' 'with,' or 'out of.'

I'll read each question and give you five seconds to come up with your answer.

Use the pause button if you need.

You ready?

Number 1—'This smoothie has been made _ avocado, apples and a squeeze 

of lemon.'

The answer is 'with.' Use 'made with' to list a food 

or drink's ingredients.

Okay, number 2.

'I can't believe he wanted a tooth made _ gold!'

'Of,' 'made of,' I can clearly see the original material in a gold tooth.

Number 3—'Can you believe she made this sofa _ an old bathtub?'

That sounds interesting.

Okay, the answer—'made out of.'

We took a bathtub and we gave it a new purpose.

So 'made out of' is best here.

And the last one—number 4.

'These bricks are made _ sand and clay.'

Okay—'made from.'

We took the natural materials and we

manufactured them to create the bricks.

Right, that's it for today.

How did you get on?

Let me know in the comments, and let me

know if you've learnt something new.

Don't forget to download the PDF and

exercise pack.

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I will see you soon for another lesson!

Muah!