Making matters worse vs Make matters worse

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'Making matters worse' is the present participle form and is used when describing an ongoing action that is worsening a situation. 'Make matters worse' is the base form and is used to state a fact or possibility of worsening a situation.

Last updated: March 11, 2024 • 845 views

Making matters worse

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to describe an ongoing action that is worsening a situation.

This phrase is used when you want to highlight that something is adding to the negative aspects of a situation.

Examples:

She kept interrupting, making matters worse.
His absence from the meeting is making matters worse.

Show examples from the web [+]

... MICHAEL WILNER \. 11/05/2014 18:34. Kerry says Jerusalem attack an atrocity 'making matters worse'. Hamas claims Jerusalem terror attack, calls on Palest.
To connect with Making Matters Worse, sign up for Facebook today. Sign UpLog ... Take One Car, Making Matters Worse, Bedrock Division at Quinn's. Saturday ...
... Cough Vaccine Is Making Matters Worse is on Facebook. To connect with Whooping Cough Vaccine Is Making Matters Worse, sign up for Facebook today.
Making Matters Worse. Confronting a partner about his or her occasional use of deception can sometimes make things worse. To begin with, no one likes to be ...

Alternatives:

exacerbating the situation
aggravating the problem
compounding the issue
worsening the circumstances
deteriorating the conditions

Make matters worse

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to state a fact or possibility of worsening a situation.

This phrase is used to indicate that something could worsen a situation or to state that something is worsening a situation.

Examples:

Adding insult to injury, his car broke down, making matters worse.
If we don't act quickly, we will make matters worse.

Alternatives:

worsen the situation
deteriorate the circumstances
aggravate the problem
exacerbate the issue
compound the situation

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

Making matters worse vs Make matters worse