Decide on

To “decide on” means we’re saying what our choice is after we think about multiple options for a while.

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Decide on

Today we’re going to talk about the phrasal verb “decide on.” Typically, when you use “decide,” you use it with a verb. We decided to go out to breakfast. We decided to go to the movies this weekend. The UAE decided to change its weekend. That’s decide plus an infinitive verb.

When you use “decide on,” you use it with a noun. We’re not describing an activity; we’re describing the choice. We’re saying what our choice is. We usually use this after we think about multiple options for a while.

For example, let’s say we decide to go out to dinner. Where are we going to go? We could go to an Italian restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, or a Greek restaurant. After looking at the menus, we decided on the Greek restaurant. We decided to go out to dinner; that’s an activity. We decided on the Greek restaurant; that’s a thing, our choice.

Now you get to the restaurant, and you have another choice: what will you eat? The last time I went to a Greek restaurant, I ordered an appetizer and a main course. There were many good choices I could have made. For the appetizer, I decided on the village salad; I love a good Greek village salad with fresh feta cheese. I decided on branzino for the main course, a type of white fish.

Last night, I decided to watch a movie on Netflix. But which movie would I choose? I scrolled through many options and finally decided on “The Unforgivable,” starring Sandra Bullock. That was pretty heavy. It makes you think and question your assumptions about right and wrong. But I was okay with that kind of a movie last night.

Last week, however, I was in the mood for something funny. So last week, I scrolled through the movies and decided on a comedy called “Stuck Together.” It’s a French movie about all the people who live together in a building in Paris. At the beginning of the pandemic, they have to learn how to get along with each other.

Earlier today, you heard that the UAE will change its weekend from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday . But that would disrupt Friday prayers. The UAE had a choice. Should they leave the weekend the same? Should they change the weekend and disrupt Friday prayers? They decided on a compromise: change the weekend but end the week at noon on Friday and move prayers to the afternoon. Their choice was that compromise. They decided on the compromise.

You can use this in the form of a question. “What did you decide on?”

So, imagine you have a friend looking for a new place to live, and that friend has narrowed it down to just two places he likes: one is bigger but farther from the city center, while the other is smaller but closer to the action. The friend is thinking about it and thinking about it. The last time you talked, which was a week ago, he still hadn’t decided.

Then you call one day and ask, “Which apartment did you decide on?” You’re asking, what was the choice that you made? And the answer will come in the form of a noun, a choice. The answer might be, “I decided on the bigger one.” Or the answer might be, “I decided on the one closer to town.”

Naming a new baby is hard. Some couples know what they want to call their baby well in advance—you always have a few months’ notice to think about it. But other couples don’t decide on a name in advance. This always shocks me. The baby is born, and the parents don’t even have a name yet! You had all this time to think! You can ask a new parent, “What name did you decide on?”

Last year, many people decided on Olivia for girls and Liam for boys. That’s according to a list of the most popular baby names of 2021. I saw another list of names that were once popular but are no longer. So, guess what? In the age of smart speakers, fewer and fewer people are deciding on “Alexa.”

Quote of the Week

Every Monday, I have to decide on a quote. Sometimes, I decide on one in advance; other times, I get to this point in the lesson prep and must decide on one at the last minute. I’m like those new parents surprised by the birth of a baby and unprepared with a name.

This week, I read a magazine article about how our lives are arranged around a seven-day week. The weekend might change from place to place, but the seven-day week is the same almost everywhere. The article traced the history of how the seven-day week developed. Anyway, in the article, the author of the article, Jill Lepore, made this comment: “Lately, there’s also the pandemic week, every day a Blursday.”

This is a play on words. A “blur” is like when nothing is clear, and everything looks the same. And so, the writer made up this word, “Blursday” which rhymes with “Thursday.” So she’s saying that every day runs together with working from home during the pandemic and disrupted child care and all the rest. “Lately, there’s also the pandemic week, every day a Blursday.”

See you next time!

That’s all for today, Monday, December 27, 2021. We’re almost ready to turn the page to 2022. Are you making any new year’s resolutions? That’s when you decide to do something different in your life just because the calendar shows a new year. I don’t really do them, but if you want to do one, check out lesson 117. PlainEnglish.com/117. In that lesson, we talked about why most new year’s resolutions fail…and how to make better resolutions and keep them.

If one of your priorities in 2022 is to upgrade your English, then we’d love to have you as a member of Plain English Plus+. We’ve gotten a lot of new members lately, all of them enjoying the videos, personal feedback, interactive English exercises, live calls, and more. And if you’d like to join, you can do so very quickly and easily from PlainEnglish.com/Plus .

That’s where you’ll find all the tools you need to upgrade your English in 2022. That’s it for today; we’ll be back on Blursday—I mean Thursday, for a new Plain English lesson. See you then.

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Story: UAE Weekends