Did you resolve or make a resolution?
One of the strengths of English is the ease with which the same word can be used as a noun, verb or even adjective.  Man is a noun (its antagonist, sorry, antonym) being woman). But you can man a ship, a pump, a filling station, etc.  In all these cases the word functions as a verb.

And then you have words like man-made  (man-made fibres, man-hours, man-sized, where man has a modifying function like an adjective.  There are also the adjective forms manly (‘frank, courageous’) and mannish (of a woman; more a man than a woman in appearance.  Definitely not a compliment).

Often the change from one part of speech to another is signalled by a change in form as in manly.  The study of how a word changes from one part of speech to another is an important topic in grammar—Derivation. (Another significant topic in the study of words is Composition: how compound words are formed.  Traditional scholarly grammars usually end with these two topics: Derivation and Composition.)

My interest at present is not to direct the reader to either of these scholarly studies.  My interest is more limited.  To touch on a point of style arising from the fluidity with which words in English can change from one part of speech to another. You frightened has an equivalent in You gave me a fright.  Similarly: He kicked the dog—He gave the dog a kick.

Where a verb is used as a noun we usually find the dummy verbs make, give. You frightened me—You gave me a fright. / He proposed---He made a proposal.  The construction with the verb is more direct; the construction with make, give   less so.

The verb has a strength, forcefulness and directness not found with the corresponding noun.   For this reason it may be prudent, at times, to say: I’d like to make a proposal than: I’d like to propose.

Make a note of it less brusque than: Note it.  So it is not the case that in every situation only one of the constructions is to be preferred.  There is a choice. Choose what serves your purpose best.

There are other considerations, too, to be kept in mind. He gave her a gift. The meaning is complete. But He gifted her leaves us wondering as to what it was that he gifted her.

There is an interesting restriction on the alternative structures now being examined.  The alternatives are available only when the ‘affected’ (i.e., that which is undergoing the action) is animate; i.e., living. You can either kick a dog or give it a kick.

You can hug your sister or you can give her a hug. But you can only kick a ball.  You cannot give it a kick. You can hug a pillar (say, the one near Kutub Minar in Delhi). You cannot give it a hug.

Similar near-synonymous constructions, as discussed above, can be found with other parts of speech also.  He gave her a cold look—He looked at her coldly. / She gave him a sweet smile-She smiled at him sweetly./ He made a sudden dash to the exit—He dashed suddenly to the exit. In these cases we see how adjectives and adverbs can alternate.

Make and give are not the only verbs found in these constructions.  They freed all the prisoners./ They set all the prisoners free . I regard your conduct as despicable./I despise your conduct.

Finally note that the synonymy discussed till now is not the synonymy of paraphrase.  They are cases of synonymy arising from structural equivalence. Further, they are distinct  from other structurally synonymous cases like: Galileo invented the telescope—The telescope was invented by Galileo. / The telescope was Galileo’s invention.

In the first one there is a change of voice (active to passive); in the second one there is a change of subject (Galileo-telescope). What is common to both these structures is a change in focus. But in He kicked the dog—he gave the dog a kick there is no change of focus.  The only change is in the part of speech of a constituent. The verb kick is changed to the noun kick.

Maxims and Observations of Kay S Wye

It is a remarkable thing that the country which looks after its citizens best is the one country which has no written constitution. On the other hand there are countries which have the most elaborate and  carefully written constitutions guaranteeing equality and fair play to  their citizens but are doing everything imaginable to promote division and unequal treatment.

(The author can be contacted at ksyadurajan@yahoo.com)