Act on
Today’s expression is a phrasal verb, “to act on.” In today’s lesson, you heard that owners of the collapsed condominium in Surfside, Florida, received an engineering report in 2018 detailing the structural damage to the building’s concrete . But the owners didn’t act on that report. It wasn’t until an update report in 2020 that the owners approved repairs.
They did not act on the first report. When we say, “act on,” we mean “take action as a result of information or advice.” The board got an engineering report that described damage to the concrete and recommended serious repairs. That was the information received. But they didn’t act on that information. They didn’t take action as a result of that information.
Here are some words you can use with “act on.” You can act on information, act on a report, act on recommendations, act on advice, and act on complaints, things like that.
I mentioned earlier that I’m the president of a condo board. We had our roof inspected and the engineers recommended a phased replacement of the roof. We acted on that recommendation and replaced two out of three sections of our roof. Then, some of the owners complained that the building’s fence is starting to fall down and could be a safety hazard. We are planning to act on that complaint soon. We will take action based on those complaints; we will probably repair or replace the fence to avoid anyone getting hurt.
Before I bought my condo unit, I had an inspection by a licensed building engineer. He went through the entire unit and examined everything. He wrote a detailed report, listing every single thing that wasn’t perfect. It was a long list. I acted on a few of the recommendations, but not every single one. For example, he said I should replace the dishwasher because the hinge on the door was broken. I was at risk of injuring myself by opening the dishwasher door. I decided not to act on that recommendation though; five years later, I still haven’t hurt myself opening the dishwasher!
You can act on advice. I’ve gotten a lot of good advice in my career; I’ve acted on most of it. People say I should have a presence on LinkedIn. I have not acted on that advice; I just don’t like LinkedIn. I won’t go into details, but I just don’t like the content most people share on the social media platform and I don’t really want to be active on there. Maybe it would make me more connected to people, but for personal reasons, I have not acted on that advice.
I might not act on all the advice I receive, but I do act on directives or instructions. For example, my company requires that we take a certain amount of continuing education hours each year. We must finish by June 30. That is not a suggestion; that is not advice. That is a direct order. Those are my instructions. Acting on those instructions, I finished all my continuing education hours on June 29. Let it never be said that I waited until the last minute. The last day, maybe, but not the last minute!
Police can act on anonymous tips. Here’s how you might say that: Acting on an anonymous tip, the police searched the woods and found the weapon used in the crime. That means someone called in an anonymous tip—some advice, given without identifying themselves—and the police took action based on that tip. They searched the woods because of the tip, and they recovered the weapon.
Quote of the Week
Today’s quote of the week is from the author Isabel Allende. I just read one of her books in Spanish and it was amazing. It’s called “The Japanese Lover.” I gave my copy to JR and he’s reading it now. I found this quote from one of her other books, “City of the Beasts.” Here it is, “The longer I live, the more uninformed I feel. Only the young have an explanation for everything.”
I love that quote, especially as the calendar flips to another year—another decade for me, actually. Tomorrow, July 20, I turn 40! Everyone asks me how I feel about that and I have no real answer; I don’t feel anything. But the next time someone asks, maybe I’ll respond with this quote from Isabel Allende, “The longer I live, the more uninformed I feel. Only the young have an explanation for everything.”
See you next time!
That’s all for today’s Plain English lesson, number 382 today at PlainEnglish.com/382. Free members get access to the full lesson transcript. And for those of you looking to improve your English for work, pleasure, or family reasons we have a great membership program called Plain English Plus+. It’s full of resources, support, and exercises to help you reach your goals in English. Check out all we have to offer at PlainEnglish.com/Plus.
Coming up on Thursday: Do you ever have a hard time deciding who to vote for? If so, you might like an idea called “ranked-choice voting.” Then again, if you saw what’s happening in New York City’s mayoral election, you might not like it as much. That’s on Thursday; see you then.
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