The subject, “love,” is singular. The object, “world,” is singular. The verb, “makes,” is singular. So why, then, do we use the plural “go” plural instead of the singular “goes”?
“Love makes the world GOES 'round”
is clearly wrong, but why? My best guess so far is that “go” is actually an abbreviated form of the infinitive “to go.” Consider:
“Love causes the world TO GO 'round.”
“Love compels the world TO GO 'round.”
“Love forces the world TO GO 'round.”
Is there something about “makes” that requires us to drop the “to”? But then, “makes” and “goes” are correct in the longer, clumsier construction:
“Love makes it so the world GOES 'round.”
Is there a rule at work here, or simply convention?
In a handful of situations, infinitives that follow certain other verbs (“make” is the most common), create a case where the word “to” is left off the infinitive making communication clearer.
In the situation you cited, “go” is such an infinitive.
Some verbs are used with or without “to” in the infinitive that follows:
love helps it go…=love helps it to go…
Welcome to the world of irregular (not ungrammatical) usage.
I imagine there’s too much variation for there to be a meaningful rule, or perhaps a fair number of exceptions to the general rule. It’s idiom, and it’s generally learnt from practice.
