Meaning & use
take the pledge
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Meanings
phraseidiomold-fashioned
To make a formal promise to give up alcohol completely, traditionally in front of a priest or a temperance group.
Grammar: Verb phrase that changes with tense: he took the pledge, she has taken the pledge.
Patterns
- take the pledge
- take the pledge to do something
After the wedding disaster, Uncle Ray took the pledge and never touched a drink again.
In Victorian times many working men took the pledge at a temperance meeting.
She took the pledge in January and has stayed sober all year.
phraseidiomfigurative
To make a serious promise to stop or begin something, such as a bad habit or a public commitment.
Grammar: A looser, often playful use: take the pledge to recycle.
Patterns
- take the pledge to do something
Hundreds of students took the pledge to stay off their phones in class for a week.
The mayor took the pledge to plant a tree for every resident.
I took the pledge to cut sugar, and the cake in the office is testing me.
Word forms
| third person singular | takes the pledge |
|---|---|
| past tense | took the pledge |
| past participle | taken the pledge |
| -ing form | taking the pledge |
Common combinations
- take the pledge to stop drinking
- He took the pledge to stop drinking when his daughter was born.
- take the pledge of abstinence
- Some clubs asked members to take the pledge of abstinence.
- take the pledge publicly
- The senator took the pledge publicly.
- ready to take the pledge
- I am ready to take the pledge for the whole month.
Synonyms and how they differ
- swear off
- Swear off is more casual and fits any habit, while take the pledge suggests a formal or public promise.
- go teetotal
- Go teetotal means to stop drinking alcohol, but it describes the change, not the formal vow.
- give up
- Give up is the plain general phrase and carries no sense of ceremony or promise.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: take the pledge or take a pledge?
take the pledge vs take a pledge
Without the, take a pledge just means make some promise, while take the pledge usually points to the alcohol vow.
Practice
After years of heavy drinking, he decided to ___ and never touch alcohol again.
Choose one answer.
Take the pledge means to promise formally to give up alcohol. The other idioms mean something else entirely.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “take the pledge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.