I recently learnt the the past form of "choose" is a rarely used word in English. (So is "chosen" used in present perfect.) So instead of saying:
"I finally chose the dress for the party"
"I didn't choose appetizer from the menu because my wife chose it for me."
"I haven't chosen the dish yet"
"You didn't choose the right job for you"
"I haven't chosen the place for my vacation yet"
More natural would be:
"haven't decided on the appetizer"
"decide where to go on vacation"
Or are there some other options? What would be most natural way to say those sentences? Do you use the verb "chose" often?
Best Answer
Pick is often used instead of chose, so you'd more usually say 'you didn't pick the right job'. The party dress sentence is interesting - saying "I finally chose..." suggests that there was a choice of a particular number of dresses, maybe ones you own already, so you've decided between them. If, though, you went to a store and bought a dress, after looking several times at various dresses, you'd say "I finally found rather than chose.
Otherwise decide is often used, exactly as you've given examples already.
As for the appetizer, "I didn't choose..." could be replaced with "I didn't decide on" or "I didn't pick", but "my wife chose it for me" would usually remain the same, though "my wife picked it for me" might also be used.
The sentences you quote are structured merely to demonstrate the difference between chose and choose; they're all accurate, but in reality, there are other ways to say the same thing.