noun
1
BAD : Before breakfast I do exercise and then have a shower.
GOOD : Before breakfast I do some exercises and then have a shower.
BAD : I advise you to take as many exercises as you can.
GOOD : I advise you to take as much exercise as you can.
GOOD : I advise you to exercise as much as you can.
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exercise (countable noun)= a movement or set of movements that you do regularly to keep or make (a part of) your body strong and healthy: 'These exercises will help to develop your calf muscles.' 'Sometimes he forgets to do his exercises.'
exercise (uncountable noun) = physical activity such as walking, swimming etc: 'The doctor says I don't get enough exercise.'
exercise (verb) = walk, jog, swim etc to stay healthy: 'Just because you're on a diet, it doesn't mean that you don't need to exercise.'
2
BAD : Make sure that you eat properly and don't forget to make your exercises.
GOOD : Make sure that you eat properly and don't forget to do your exercises.
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do your exercises (NOT make ): 'Always warm up before you start doing these exercises.'
DO · HAVE · MAKE · TAKE
Many phrases begin with a very common very such as do, make, have, or take : ‘I felt very nervous about taking the test but, after having a long talk with Mrs Fisher, I decided I would just do my best and try not to make too many silly mistakes .’ These verbs can be combined with some nouns but not with others and since they do not have a clear meaning of their own, choosing the right combination can be a problem. Phrases which tend to cause difficulty are shown below.
HAVE
have a bath (or esp. AmE take ) ‘She’s probably upstairs having a bath.’
Have (your) breakfast ‘We usually have breakfast in the kitchen.’
Have (your) dinner ‘We had dinner and then went for a walk.’
Have a drink ‘I’ll collapse if I don’t have a drink soon.’
Have (an) experience ‘He has no experience of running a large company.’
Have fun ‘You can’t stop people from having fun.’
Have a holiday ‘It’s almost a year since we had a real holiday.’
Have an interview ‘I’ve had six interviews but no one has offered me a job.’
Have a lesson ‘Every morning we have three fifty-minute lessons.’
Have (your) lunch ‘Isn’t it about time we had lunch?’
Have an operation ‘Before I had the operation I could hardly walk.’
Have a party ‘On Saturday we’re having a party.’
Have a picnic ‘If it’s sunny we could have a picnic.’
Have a shower (or esp. AmE take) ‘It only takes me a minute to have a shower.’
TAKE
Take/do an examination ‘Why do we have to take so many tests?’
Take (your) medicine ‘Don’t forget to take your medicine.’
Take a pill ‘He refuses to take sleeping pills.’
Take/do a test ‘The last test I took was a disaster.’
MAKE
Make an effort ‘I had to make a big effort not to laugh.’
Make a journey ‘It was the first journey he’d made all on his own.’
Make a mistake ‘He has made a serious mistake.’
Make a noise ‘How can one small child make so much noise?’
Make progress ‘I made very little progress at the start of the course.’
DO
Do your best ‘Don’t worry, Tim. Just do your best.’
Do (or cause) damage ‘The storm did a lot of damage to the crops.’
Do an exercise ‘Have you done your exercises today?’
Do an experiment ‘To do this experiment, you’ll need two eggs.’
Do (sb) good ‘The holiday has done him a lot of good.’
Do harm ‘A scandal would do his reputation a lot of harm.’
Do your homework ‘Have you done your homework yet?’
Do a job ‘I’ve got one or two jobs to do this evening.’
Do the/some shopping ‘Jake has gone into town to do some shopping.’
Do research ‘We need to do a lot more research.’
Do things ‘We’ve done lots of different things today.’
Do your training ‘Where did you do your training?’
Note also: do something/anything etc: ‘I can’t come now – I’m doing something.’ ‘He hasn’t done anything wrong.'
3
BAD : You will never be able to speak fluently unless you do exercise.
GOOD : You will never be able to speak fluently unless you practise.
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practise = do something regularly in order to develop a skill: 'Your driving will never improve if you don't practise.' 'If we're planning to go to Montreal next summer, I'll have to practise my French.' 'Whenever I start practising the violin, everyone leaves the room.'