Figure in
This is a great expression today: figure in. It’s a phrasal verb. Here’s how you heard it in today’s lesson: Trump kept his promise to reform the federal criminal justice system. That victory figured in his re-election campaign.
In this sense, we mean that this victory played a part in his re-election campaign. He kept a promise and he bragged about that promise later, when running for re-election. His promise figured in his campaign.
He also promised to “drain the swamp.” Do you remember what that meant? He was going to clean up corruption. That didn’t exactly happen, and “drain the swamp” did not figure in his re-election campaign. That slogan was not a part of his re-election campaign.
“Play a part”: that’s the best way to think about “figure in.” Here are a few more examples. We talked about the decision to buy a new or a used car in a recent lesson. What factors would figure in your decision to buy a used car? What factors would play a part in your decision? You would probably consider the price, selection, and reliability. You may decide that the additional risk is worth it because it’s carries a more affordable initial price tag. Those factors figure in your decision to buy a used car.
When I most recently bought a car—well, not too recently, it was four years ago—anyway, the brand reputation of Mazda, the price, the body style of the car, and the options all figured in my decision. But I need to be honest: one of the biggest factors that figured in my decision was that Mazda makes a lot of cars with a manual transmission, which is my preference. Most other carmakers don’t offer that at all here in America, if you can believe it. To be sure, that wasn’t the only thing I was thinking about, but it did figure prominently in my decision. If something figures prominently in a decision, it’s one of the most important factors.
Your company may lease its office space. If the lease comes up for renewal, the company has a big decision to make: should it keep the same amount of office space in the future, or reduce it? Your company’s culture and ability to work at home would probably figure in the decision to lease office space in the future. If working at home is easy, then maybe your company can afford to rent less office space in the future; if it’s impossible, then maybe it needs more space to maintain social distancing. But either way, the work culture would probably figure in any decision about office space.
If you’ve been watching TV commercials lately, you might have noticed that social distancing, safety, and contactless shopping all figure prominently in advertisements. They all play a big—a prominent—part in advertisements. Many companies proudly talk about their delivery options. Others emphasize their safety protocols. Either way, safety and social distancing figure prominently in advertisements.
You can figure something into your plans. If you’re going to have a wedding and you invite 100 people, you don’t want to buy 100 meals. You need to figure in an RSVP rate. You need to figure in the percentage of people who will decline your invitation.
If you want to play golf on a Saturday, you might figure in the weather forecast before heading out. If it’s going to rain in the afternoon, you might want to reserve an early tee time so you can be off the golf course in time. You’ll figure the weather forecast into your plans.
Quote of the Week
Today we did a post-mortem. I said it was useful to look back on the times you lost a competition and evaluate how you did. That’s a post-mortem. But if you fail, it’s not always comfortable to look back on your failure. That hurts sometimes. I think it’s necessary, but it hurts. Well here is a dissenting voice. It is the Greek playwright Sophocles, writing in Oedipus Rex. Here’s the quote: “I have no desire to suffer twice, in reality and then in retrospect.”
I have to say, he has a point. It’s bad enough to suffer the first time; no need to suffer again by spending too much time looking back on it.
See you next time!
Speaking of suffering, this is the worst time of the week, isn’t it? Right when our time together is coming to a close. But of course, you can enjoy our rich library of lessons online at PlainEnglish.com. You know I’d love for you to join as a Plus+ member, but at the very least join as a free member. That gives you access to our full lesson library—hundreds of expressions, lesson topics, and more, all for you at PlainEnglish.com.
Coming up on Thursday: a major discovery about water on the moon. A few years ago, scientists found water in the dark and cold, cratered parts of the Moon’s surface. But a new discovery shows it’s in more places than previously thought. We’ll explore that—so to speak—on Thursday. See you then!
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
