They can decide for themselves vs They can decide on their own

Both phrases are correct and commonly used in English. They convey the same meaning of individuals making their own decisions without external influence. The choice between 'for themselves' and 'on their own' is a matter of personal preference.

Last updated: March 22, 2024 • 4479 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

"They can decide for themselves "

This phrase is used to indicate that individuals have the ability to make their own decisions without external influence.

Examples:

Children should be allowed to decide for themselves what they want to study in college.
I trust my team to decide for themselves how to approach this project.

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Let us give our children the chance to learn cooking and housekeeping, then they can decide for themselves.
European consumers should be given objective information about foods so that they can decide for themselves what to buy and what to eat.
Member States can continue to exercise and regulate their health systems, and they can decide for themselves what benefits they want to offer to their citizens, and to what extent.
Commissioner, it is not true that workers can decide for themselves.
Women must be able to decide for themselves whether they want to become pregnant.
Member States decide for themselves what currency they want.
Developing countries must of course decide for themselves what visa policies they wish to operate.
They decide for themselves what the public sector represents.
Member States have to decide for themselves what type of pension systems they want.
Countries must decide for themselves what ethical standards they are going to employ.
They should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to keep their national currencies.
If this local and regional reconstruction is successful, the people in the terrorist hotbeds can decide for themselves what will benefit them the most.
One more thing - why can the Member States not decide for themselves about how to reduce their own CO2 emissions, as they can decide about their energy mix?
TV channels must decide for themselves how they make their programmes and the music they want to play available.
I take the view that the Member States should decide for themselves whether they want to deregulate their national postal monopolies.
I consider that the Member States should be left to decide for themselves whether they want to deregulate their national postal monopolies.
We need to recognise the diversity of the Member States and allow them to decide for themselves what they call 'services of general interest'.
The Member States which have not ratified the Aarhus Convention must of course decide for themselves whether they want to ratify or not.
Let the Member States decide for themselves which risk products they will allow.
This would allow the Member States to decide for themselves which areas they want to subsidise.

Alternatives:

they can decide on their own
they can make their own decisions

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

"They can decide on their own"

This phrase is used to indicate that individuals have the ability to make their own decisions without external influence.

Examples:

Students are encouraged to decide on their own which extracurricular activities they want to participate in.
She prefers to let her children decide on their own what they want to eat for dinner.

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Therefore, they can decide on a case-by-case basis as they see fit.
Let us give our children the chance to learn cooking and housekeeping, then they can decide for themselves.
They can decide I'm some horrible person.
These ratings are also unquestionably important in that they can decide whether a security can be used as a guarantee for loans required by many financial institutions.
The same surveys reveal that more often than not European citizens are unaware that they can decide to become donors during their lifetime.
European consumers should be given objective information about foods so that they can decide for themselves what to buy and what to eat.
In other countries too, people have to be aware of any safety risks before they can decide to accept a batch of GMOs.
Children and women are dying every day because Soviet leadership believes that they can decide for the future of another country.
The regional Managing Authority is responsible for its implementation, and can decide on specific projects targeting women.
Finally, we can decide on spending together with the Council.
Member States can decide on such matters perfectly well themselves.
Leading from this, Member States can decide on its prioritisation and sharing of best practice.
Nevertheless, the committee responsible can decide on appropriate procedural arrangements so as to transmit its recommendation in time.
Just so we can decide on the best solution for everybody.
You are to go before the Board so they can decide if they're going to sanction you.
We merely wish to express our definite view that cooperation within the intelligence sphere falls within the area of competence of the Member States and is something that they themselves can decide on in the context of bilateral and multilateral relations.
The use of such instruments at the appropriate level should therefore be encouraged while stressing that individual Member States can decide on their use.
Each Member State can decide on its own method of financing and there are four different methods.
It is not something that I can decide on my own, so I will put it to them.
Let us clarify this point so that we can decide on the basis of the true facts.

Alternatives:

they can decide for themselves
they can make their own decisions

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They can decide for themselves vs They can decide on their own