decide
part of speech
verb (decide, decides, decided, deciding)
meaning for a pupil
1) To decide is to make up your mind, to choose after thinking: I decided to stay. tree →
2) To decide is to settle something, to make the result clear: One goal decided the game. tree →
sense in the lessons
Interpretation: In Sefer Yetzirah, Wind (air) "decides" between Fire and Water, as a balancing force that stands between opposites. This is the idea of a middle, or deciding, power. In the Prophets and Writings it also means to judge a case, and the tradition reads the Messiah's judging as wise and true, not just by what eyes see or ears hear. In the primary lessons: choosing between operations, such as adding or taking away («First decide: coming together or going away?»); in class decide the steps of a problem; in everyday life deciding what to eat or play; in stories a character decides what to do and that moves the plot; noun «decision»
examples
- Heat was created from Fire, and cold from Water, and satiation from Wind deciding between them. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
- Three—Fire, Water, and Wind; Fire above and Water below, with Wind the edict deciding between them. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
- The Second sect admitted Three great Powers ; two of them as in the first case, and a third Power whose function was to decide between (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
- But to them that decide justly shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. (Writings PRO.24.25, JPS 1917) tree →
- And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.' And the king of Israel said unto him: 'So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.' (Prophets 1KI.20.40, JPS 1917) tree →
- And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears; (Prophets ISA.11.3, JPS 1917) tree →
- First decide: are things coming together, or going away? tree →
- Decide what the question asks before you work. tree →
- Tim decides to give 4 cards to Ben. tree →
- We decided to go to the beach. tree →
- I can't decide between pizza and pasta. tree →
- The class voted to decide the name of our fish. tree →
- One goal decided the match. tree →
- She decided to tell the truth. tree →
- So he decided to take a wife. tree →
note
A study rule: decide the direction of change before calculating. No operation clue by itself. Trap: in a story «decides to give 4» is a plan; the count changes when the giving happens. Noun «decision».
In the corpora
- But to them that decide justly shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.
- A job interview is a meeting where an employer asks questions to decide whom to hire; several people usually compete for one job.
- A "For Sale" board means the family has decided to sell the house, and selling usually takes months, not days.
- Disagreeing is normal; talking it through is how couples decide things together.
- It fixes roads, empties bins, runs parks and libraries, and decides on planning: whether people may build big extensions.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «decide» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.