Make a living means to earn enough money to live on. It refers to your main source of income, the one that lets you support yourself. The job follows as, and the activity follows from or by: make a living as a musician, make a living by teaching.
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make a living + as + job; make a living + from/by + -ing; make a good/decent living; earn a living
- My cousin makes a living as a wedding photographer in Edinburgh.
- Few writers can make a living from their books alone.
- After the factory closed, many people struggled to make a living.
What changed
First versionIt's hard to make living as an artist in a small town.
RevisionIt's hard to make a living as an artist in a small town.
Living is a noun here, meaning income or the money you live on. It needs a or a possessive word in front of it: make a living, make his living. The article is small and easy to drop, but make living without it is incorrect.
Make a living is about earning money, while make a new life means settling somewhere and starting again: After the war, they made a new life in Canada. Another way to say make a living is earn a living: She earns a living as a translator.
Your turn
My uncle ___ by repairing old cars and selling them online.
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makes a living — Repairing and selling cars gives the uncle his income, so makes a living. Make a life is about building your life, not earning money, and it doesn't go with by repairing cars.
Write about someone you know with an unusual job: say how they make a living and how long they have been doing it.
My old school friend has been making a living by restoring antique furniture for about ten years.
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