ENGLISH
REFERENCE

decide on

phr. v..
B1 Intermediate Oxford

phr. v.. to choose one thing or person from a group of options after thinking about it carefully.

phr. v.. to select a specific option or course of action from a range of possibilities; implies a period of deliberation prior to the final choice.


SIMPLE

We need to decide on a color for the kitchen.

CONTEXTUAL

After looking at several different models, they finally decided on the blue sedan.

COMPLEX

The committee spent three hours debating the budget before they could finally decide on a suitable candidate for the director position.

Particles
on
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
decide + on + object
Usage

the object is usually the final choice made (a plan, a date, or a person).

Teaching tip

contrast with 'decide to' (followed by an infinitive verb) versus 'decide on' (followed by a noun or gerund); 'on' emphasizes the selection process among alternatives.

Pitfall

We decided on go to Italy.We decided on going to Italy.the preposition 'on' must be followed by a noun or a gerund (-ing form), not a base verb.

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