do
duː
The verb with no meaning of its own — and why it leads the sentence
The picture A task sits in front of you, your hand lands on it, and it rolls to done. The content drops away; only the handling is left. DO leaves nothing behind but a finished task; MAKE leaves something new behind.
Where the picture shows up in do
-
clear the pile
I'll do the dishes tonight.
aɪl duː ðə ˈdɪʃɪz təˈnaɪt
I'll take care of the dishes tonight.
Working through a sink of stacked dishes until the sink is empty.
-
the work you always handle
What do you do for a living?
wʌt duː juː duː fɔːr ə ˈlɪvɪŋ
What's your line of work?
Going to the same place and turning the same handle day after day.
Asking a job is asking what you handle daily — the task you always touch is who you are at work.
-
finish the forms
Have you done the paperwork yet?
hæv juː dʌn ðə ˈpeɪpərwɜːrk jet
Are you done with the paperwork?
Flipping a stack of forms to the last page and setting it down finished.
-
that's enough handled
That'll do for now.
ˈðætəl duː fɔːr naʊ
That's good enough for now.
A thing that is not perfect but fills the spot well enough for now.
-
the empty do steps up front
Do you want a bag?
duː juː wɑːnt ə bæɡ
Would you like a bag?
An empty do with no content of its own standing at the front of the sentence, holding the door open.
Because it carries no content, it can stand at the front just to keep the sentence running.
All of it in one picture
do is a hand landing on the task in front of you and rolling it out of the way. Roll the dishes away and that is washing up; roll the same task every day and that is your job; roll the forms to the last page and they are done. When rolling it that far is far enough, you get “that'll do”, and when even the content is rubbed out, only the bare do is left at the front of the sentence. What do leaves behind is not what was done, only that a hand touched it and moved it along.