Initiative example sentences
Related (12): enterprise, drive, ambition, proactive, self-starter, leadership, autonomy, motivation, resourcefulness, independence, agency, determination
"Initiative" Example Sentences
Common Phrases
- take the initiative
- show initiative
- lack initiative
- on your own initiative
- new initiative
- government initiative
- community initiative
- business initiative
- initiative to
- take initiative
- demonstrate initiative
- personal initiative
- strategic initiative
Examples by Level
A1
- My teacher started a new initiative to help students read more books.
- The initiative is good — everyone likes it.
- I joined the initiative last week with my friends.
A2
- Our school's initiative to plant trees in the neighborhood actually got people excited about it.
- She took the initiative to organize the group project, even though nobody asked her to.
- The initiative seemed small at first, but it changed how people thought about recycling.
B1
- Looking back, taking the initiative to apply for that scholarship was probably the best decision I made that year.
- The company's initiative to hire more women in tech is real progress, though there's still a long way to go.
- He had the kind of personality where he'd always take the initiative — sometimes it worked, sometimes it just annoyed people.
B2
- The government's initiative to combat homelessness looked good on paper, but the execution fell apart almost immediately.
- What struck me about her wasn't just that she took the initiative, but that she did it quietly, without needing credit.
- The initiative had been running for three years before anyone bothered to measure whether it actually worked.
C1
- The initiative, while well-intentioned, revealed the fundamental gap between policy and the lived reality of those it was meant to serve.
- She possessed that rare quality of taking initiative without the ego that usually accompanies it — a kind of quiet competence.
- What began as a grassroots initiative had, by the third year, been so thoroughly absorbed into bureaucracy that its original purpose was barely recognizable.
C2
- There's something almost poignant about watching an initiative lose its way — not through malice, but through the slow, inevitable erosion of institutional memory.
- He took the initiative in a manner that suggested he'd long since made peace with the possibility of failure, which somehow made success more likely.
- The initiative represented one of those rare moments when idealism and pragmatism aligned, however briefly, before the usual forces reasserted themselves.
Examples by Scenario
🏠 Everyday Life
- My kid took the initiative to clean her room without being asked — I'm still not sure what happened.
- The initiative to start a neighborhood book club actually got people talking to each other for once.
- I finally took the initiative and called my mom back after ignoring her texts for three days.
💼 Workplace
- Sarah took the initiative on the client presentation and honestly saved us from looking completely unprepared.
- The manager's new initiative to have everyone work from home two days a week has made the office weirdly quiet.
- Nobody asked him to lead the initiative, but he just started doing it anyway — and somehow it stuck.
📊 Business
- Our initiative to source materials locally cut costs by fifteen percent and became a selling point with customers.
- The initiative to rebrand failed spectacularly, but at least we learned what not to do next time.
- Competitors are copying our initiative, which means we need to move faster if we want to stay ahead.
🛒 Buying / Shopping
- I saw this initiative at the grocery store where you can bring your own containers for bulk items — actually pretty convenient.
- The store's initiative to mark down items near their expiration date is the only reason I shop there.
- They're running an initiative where you get points for buying sustainable products, but the math doesn't really add up.
✈️ Travel
- The hotel's initiative to reduce plastic waste meant no more tiny shampoo bottles, which I actually appreciated.
- We booked through an initiative that connects travelers with local guides, and it made the trip feel less touristy.
- The airline's initiative to let you offset your carbon footprint is nice, but it doesn't fix the fundamental problem.
📚 Education
- The school's initiative to teach financial literacy starting in middle school is something I wish I'd had.
- My daughter's teacher started an initiative where students pick their own books to read — she's actually reading now.
- The initiative to bring in local professionals to talk about their careers made college planning feel less abstract.
❤️ Relationships
- He took the initiative to apologize first, which meant more to me than I expected it to.
- We both knew the relationship needed something, but neither of us had the courage to take the initiative until she did.
- The initiative she showed in planning our anniversary made me realize how much I'd been taking her for granted.
📰 News / Politics
- The government's initiative to improve rural broadband access has been delayed for the third time.
- Environmental groups are praising the initiative, though critics argue it doesn't go far enough.
- The senator's initiative to reform the criminal justice system has surprisingly bipartisan support.
💻 Technology
- The company's initiative to make their app more accessible for people with disabilities actually makes it better for everyone.
- There's a new initiative using AI to detect deepfakes, but it's already falling behind the technology it's trying to catch.
- The initiative to open-source their code got a lot of goodwill, even if it was partly a PR move.
📝 Formal Writing
- The initiative aims to reduce carbon emissions by twenty percent over the next five years through a combination of regulatory and incentive-based measures.
- This initiative represents a significant departure from previous policy frameworks and warrants careful evaluation of its long-term efficacy.
- The proposed initiative includes provisions for community engagement and transparent reporting mechanisms to ensure accountability throughout implementation.