Learn English – “Decide on” vs. “decide for”

differencesmeaningprepositionsword-choice

What's the difference between "decide on something" and "decide for something"?

For example, which preposition would you use in the following passage?

After more than a decade of disagreement, residents of Berlin finally decided __ a monument to celebrate German reunification.

Best Answer

To "decide on something" means to make a decision in relation to a situation, whereas to "decide for something" means to make a decision in favour of a party in a dispute.

For example, if group A wants to build a monument and group B wants to have a bank holiday, then you could 'decide for group A' (referring directly to the dispute) or you could 'decide on building a monument' (not referring directly to the dispute).

Also:

  1. decide on vs. decide against

  2. (in disputes) decide for vs. decide against