Side with
Today’s English expression is “side with.” This is a phrasal verb, so yes, in this case “side” is an action, not a thing.
To side with someone means to agree with that person, or support that person in an argument. We usually use this when two people are in an argument or disagreement, and another person chooses to agree with one of the people in the argument.
Just now, at the end of today’s lesson on Elon Musk and Twitter , I was describing the impossible choice of the Delaware Chancery Court, where Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk is being heard.
If the judge sides with Musk, meaning if the judge agrees with Musk, then the billionaire mogul will pay a $1 billion breakup fee to Twitter, but he won’t be required to buy the company. If the judge sides with Twitter (agrees with Twitter), then Musk will have to buy the company. So the judge will have to make a choice. Which side will the judge be on? Will the judge side with Musk or will the judge side with Twitter?
When I searched Google News for examples of “side with,” I found most of the examples are about court cases. Here’s one: A high-school football coach liked to kneel down and pray at the 50-yard line, that’s the middle of the field in American football. This is a pretty typical middle-America controversy: our culture prizes the freedom of religious expression, on the one hand, but also the separation of religion from official government policy on the other.
So what happens if a public school employee prays in public at a school event? The school said he shouldn’t do it, but the coach disagreed, saying he personally had the right to express himself and he wasn’t making anyone else pray with him. The case went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court sided with the football coach. The court agreed with, supported, the coach: he can pray on the public football field.
Family dynamics can be difficult. Imagine you have a sibling and you frequently argue with the sibling. And imagine that your parents always agree with your sister, let’s say. You can complain to your parents, “You both always side with my sister in any disagreement.” That means, “When my sister and I argue, you (my parents) always agree with my sister.”
Quote of the Week
This was a long lesson, so I’ll give you a short quote of the week. It’s by the author H.G. Wells. He said: “Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe.” That feels true to me!
See you next time!
That’s all for today. Coming up on Thursday: I threw it open to the members of the PlainEnglish.com/Facebook group. I had two topics in mind and I didn’t know which one to create, so I put a poll in the Facebook group and asked you.
I thought I knew, I thought I knew what you would pick…and I was wrong. The topic on Thursday was the overwhelming favorite on Facebook.
I’ll do that again soon. If I’m ever on the fence about what to write, I’ll put up a poll on Facebook and just ask what you want to see. So if you’re not on Facebook with us, come join us at PlainEnglish.com/Facebook . Then you’ll get to vote on future lesson topics. But for now, you’ll just have to wait and see what your peers chose for Thursday’s lesson. That comes out in just three short days, see you then!
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
