Play a role in

Play a role in

aToday’s expression is “play a role in.”

“Play a role in” is used to describe how something or someone contributes to a situation or a context. So if you think about a play—or even a movie—a character is a “role.” You might say, “I just got accepted into the new performance of ‘West Side Story,'” a famous musical. And a friend might respond, “Congratulations! What role are you playing?” That means, what character will you represent?

And in a play a single character contributes to the overall play. In most plays, movies, musicals, whatever, a single character isn’t the whole show. A single character contributes to the show.

So when we use “play a role in,” we’re talking about something that contributes to a bigger situation.

I know a lot of you are working parents. Would you agree with this statement? “Time management plays a role in managing work and home responsibilities.”

Time management plays a role—that means, effectively using your time is one of the things that allow you to balance work and home responsibilities. It’s not the only thing! You have to be good at your job; you have to love your kids. But managing your time plays a role. It’s one of the things that allow you to balance your work and your home life.

When you think about preserving the environment, slowing changes in the climate, you think of world leaders, you think of energy policy, nuclear, gas, windmills, giant solar farms, things like that. But individuals also play a role in protecting and preserving the natural environment. Maybe we as individuals can’t solve all the world’s problems, but our individual choices play a role, they form part of the bigger effort to protect the environment.

Recycling, reducing waste, lowering our energy usage—all that plays a role in reducing our impact on the climate.

Most often we use “play a role” with an adjective like important. “Play an important role.” You send your kids to school, you expect the school to teach them everything they need to know, right? Not exactly. Parents play an important role in children’s education. Parents supervise homework, they instill good habits, they make sure kids get enough food and enough sleep, they help connect schoolwork to the wider world. By doing this, parents play an important role in the education of their kids.

Today I said that typography plays a role in how we perceive written communication . The typography isn’t everything. Clearly, the words matter. The color matters, the size matters. If it’s digital, if it’s print. But the typography plays a role. Are you going to read it? Is it easy to read? What does it tell you about the material that’s being written? The font, the type plays a role in how we perceive what’s written.

Many brands have discovered that influencers can play an important role in a brand’s strategy. Influencers help them reach more people, in a more authentic way. Especially today, when people tune out commercials, press “skip” on YouTube ads, influencer marketing plays an important role in a brand’s advertising strategy.

PPE—remember that term? Personal protective equipment. That was your COVID mask, your gloves if you worked in a public place, maybe even a gown if you worked in a hospital. That equipment played a crucial role in stopping the spread of COVID-19, back when it was really spreading fast. It played a crucial role. It was very important. It wasn’t the only thing—not by a long shot. We had work from home, we had vaccines, social distancing, handwashing, spraying surfaces, lots of other stuff. But the protective equipment played a crucial role.

Listening skills are important—and not just in languages, in friendships and relationships too. Active listening plays an important role in developing strong friendships. Sure, you need other things. But it’s hard to be a good friend if you can’t truly listen to someone else.

JR’s song of the week

Time for the song of the week. It’s called “4Runner” by Brenn!. A 4Runner is a kind of Toyota truck. The song is about the singer and an ex-partner that have grown apart; they’re now living separate lives, in different places. One of the lines goes, “And your 4Runner, is it running up north these days? I bet it gets lonely, no one’s there to keep you sane.” It’s the kind of question you ask, little details of a shared life from times gone by.

Good song this week, JR, 4Runner by Brenn!. That’s Brenn, only with an exclamation point at the end.

See you next time!

And that’s all for today’s Plain English—sorry about the silly topic, you just need to allow me one of those every now and then. Remember this was lesson 587, so the full lesson transcripts are at PlainEnglish.com/587. We’ll be back on Monday with a brand-new topic. See you then.