Is "make it to the X" time-sensitive? Also, is "make the X" a synonym for that? [closed]

If somebody arrives at X and says "I made it!", does it mean they are happy they have arrived at X in time or because they arrived there at all? Is there an inherent time-sensitivity in these words?

And also, I've bumped into a sentence that went like "we have to push it to make the X before Y". Is it gramatically correct and of the same meaning? Sounds like some older, unused form or a plain mistake to me, but I wanted to make sure.

Solution 1:

It would be context dependent. In absence of context, it expresses completion of the task . Your first expression to me would mean that you managed the feat itself. No time dependence. Had there there been some prior statement about time, or weather, or such. it moves over into time dependent status. The distinction usually doesn't matter, so it can be murky.

E.g. "To qualify for the Alberta Marathon, runners must have a time under 3 hours in a previously sanctioned marathon." A runner comes in at 2:59:57. "I made it!" Time dependence here established by context of previous statement.

E.g. Recently we drove back from Vancouver to Edmonton, having dry roads all the way, with a series of storm tracks hitting towns and passes a few hours after we had passed. As we came into the driveway, it was starting to snow. "We made it home" in this case is ambivalent. We finished a long trip. And we beat the snow home.

If it does matter, express the time dependence "I made the finish line before the cutoff" "We made it home before the snow started."