Thank you for the comments! The following were sent to my e-mail account. If you don't see a comment you sent directly to the blog, I might have accidently deleted it... Please forgive and resend??
A decision is made, or in the case of consensus, "come to", "reached" or "arrived at". This indicates a journey of sorts, weighing pros and cons, considering possibilities along the way and then arriving at a place where deliberation stops and action (or non-action) is "taken". My two cents.
Yes, groups "take" decisions. It's perfectly correct. But it's also a quite formal, and perhaps somewhat pretentious. A lawyer or a clerk of the court might write/speak this way, but I don't think it's normal. In academia, at least the parts I'm familiar with, a department would, after discussion, "conclude" or "decide". If there were a lot of argument, the department might "reach a conclusion". I can imagine the faculty as a whole "taking" a decision, though, or a board of directors, so probably the phrase has legal, or legalistic, overtones.
I make decisions. My children make decisions. The committee made a decision.
I take pills. My children take pills. The committee takes no chances.
I outen the ligh--- oh no that's Pennsylvania Dutch.....
I think the difference has to do with British/American English. In England, people regularly take decisions. In America we make them. I think.
3 comments:
Here's the comment I posted on the blog.... Of course I use make. Perhaps take signifies a British influence. - Kim
I just wrote a comment, then Kathy unplugged the computer...
I wanted to tell you that I did a google search and "take a decision" had many more hits than "make a decision," nearly three times as many. But that may not mean anything.
I think take a decision sounds too.
and, as you know, in french we say "prendre une decision" ie "take a decision". just wanted to add this, not that it really matters....
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