In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the option that best expresses the meaning of the given idiom or phrase and mark your answer. To make amends.

Introduction / Context:
This question examines understanding of a very common English idiom. The phrase to make amends is frequently used in both spoken and written communication to describe what a person does after committing a mistake or causing harm. Accurately grasping this meaning helps candidates interpret narratives, dialogues, and moral discussions in comprehension passages and conversations.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Idiom: to make amends.
• Options: make new friends, feel guilty for something you have not done, compensate, make flimsy excuses.
• No surrounding sentence is given, so the standard dictionary meaning is tested.
• We assume neutral context where someone has done wrong and wants to correct it.

Concept / Approach:
To make amends means to do something to correct a mistake, to repair damage, or to compensate for a wrong or injury. It involves taking positive action to restore balance, such as apologising sincerely, paying for damage, or performing a kind act to offset harm. The word amends itself suggests reparation. Among the options, only to compensate captures the idea of correcting or offsetting a wrong. The other options deal with unrelated feelings, new relationships, or weak excuses rather than actual restorative action.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall the usual collocations: make amends for one's behaviour, make amends for a mistake, make amends to a neighbour.Step 2: Understand that in all these examples the subject actively tries to repair harm through apology, payment, or helpful acts.Step 3: Compare this concept with the options. To compensate means to make up for something bad by giving something good in return or by paying damages, which fits well.Step 4: Check other options: making new friends, feeling guilty unnecessarily, or offering flimsy excuses do not involve genuine reparation.Step 5: Conclude that to compensate is the best expression of the idiom to make amends.

Verification / Alternative check:
Consider a sentence: After breaking the window, the boy decided to make amends. We can sensibly replace this with After breaking the window, the boy decided to compensate by paying for the repairs. The meaning remains consistent. However, replacing with make new friends, feel guilty for something you have not done, or make flimsy excuses breaks the logical connection and changes the nature of the action. This substitution test confirms compensate as the correct interpretation.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
To make new friends: This may be a positive act but it does not inherently correct a past wrong to a particular person or situation. To feel guilty for something you have not done: This describes an incorrect sense of guilt, whereas making amends concerns correct action after real guilt. To make flimsy excuses: This refers to avoiding responsibility, which is the opposite attitude to making amends. The idiom emphasises sincere correction, not excuses or avoidance.

Common Pitfalls:
Some candidates confuse feeling sorry with making amends. Feeling sorry is internal emotion, whereas making amends requires external action. Exam setters exploit this confusion by offering options related to guilt or apology without action. Another pitfall is misreading amends as friends due to quick reading. Careful attention to spelling and prior exposure to the idiom in context can prevent such mistakes.

Final Answer:
The idiom to make amends means to compensate or to do something to correct a wrong.