Decisions: ことにする

We use the below structure to show that we have decided one thing out of multiple choices. The most common example would be say, “I’ll have the pizza” at a restaurant.

This is the most basic structure. More commonly you will see it used with nominalised verbs to show that you have decided to do something.

We could, of course, also use the verb “to decide”.

The meaning is almost identical with the following two points to note:

1. ことにする is more colloquial.
2. There ultimate meanings of the final verbs “to do” and “to decide” are still present in the sentence and so the two are not always interchangeable. Look at the following two example sentences.