Rule example sentences
Related (15): regulation, law, principle, guideline, standard, norm, policy, ruler, govern, command, authority, decree, statute, code, convention
"Rule" Example Sentences
Common Phrases
- rule of thumb
- golden rule
- rule of law
- break the rule
- follow the rule
- rule out
- rule of engagement
- rule book
- as a rule
- rule of the road
- rule with an iron fist
- ground rule
- house rule
- make a rule
- bend the rule
Examples by Level
A1
- The rule is: no shoes in the house.
- My teacher said the rule about homework is every day.
- There is one rule — be nice to everyone.
A2
- The rule at work is that you have to arrive by nine o'clock.
- She broke the rule and ate dessert before dinner, and her mom was not happy.
- Nobody really follows that rule about turning off phones in class.
B1
- The golden rule of cooking is to taste as you go — otherwise you're just guessing.
- He'd always lived by the rule that you never ask for help, which made him miserable.
- There's an unspoken rule in our friend group that we don't talk about money.
B2
- The rule against fraternization was technically in the handbook, but everyone ignored it anyway.
- She'd broken her own rule about not checking work emails after seven, and now she couldn't stop.
- What struck me about the rule was how selectively people chose to enforce it.
C1
- The rule that governs most social hierarchies is rarely articulated, yet everyone seems to understand it perfectly.
- He'd spent decades operating under a rule that no longer served him, yet couldn't quite bring himself to abandon it.
- The tension between the written rule and its actual application revealed something uncomfortable about institutional hypocrisy.
C2
- There's a peculiar comfort in discovering that the rule you've been following so rigidly was never as binding as you believed.
- The rule, once you really examined it, was less a constraint than a permission structure — a way of knowing what you were allowed to want.
- She'd internalized the rule so completely that breaking it felt less like rebellion and more like a kind of self-discovery.
Examples by Scenario
🏠 Everyday Life
- The rule in our house is that whoever cooks doesn't have to do dishes, and it's the only thing keeping us sane.
- My kid invented a rule that we can't talk about school at dinner, and honestly, I respect it.
- There's this unwritten rule on our street that you don't park in front of Mrs. Chen's house — nobody knows why, but everyone follows it.
💼 Workplace
- The rule about not using the good coffee mugs in the break room is apparently sacred, even though nobody remembers who made it.
- My boss sent an email about the new rule on remote work, and everyone's interpreting it differently.
- There's a rule that you have to smile during client calls, which is exhausting when you're having a terrible day.
📊 Business
- The rule we implemented about quarterly reviews actually improved retention by fifteen percent.
- Our competitor broke the unspoken rule of the industry, and it's forcing us to rethink our entire strategy.
- The rule against discounting below cost is what's keeping our margins stable while everyone else is bleeding out.
🛒 Buying / Shopping
- I have a rule that I never buy anything on the first visit, and it's saved me so much money.
- The store's return rule is thirty days, but I lost the receipt — do you think they'll still take it back?
- There's a rule about not opening food before you pay, but the sample station kind of defeats that purpose.
✈️ Travel
- The rule at the hotel was no guests after ten, which made meeting my friend there pretty awkward.
- We learned the hard way that the rule about carrying liquids applies even to sunscreen.
- The airline's rule on carry-on luggage is stricter than it used to be, so I had to repack everything at the gate.
📚 Education
- The teacher explained the rule about comma splices, and suddenly half my writing made sense.
- My daughter asked why there's a rule against calculators in math class if everyone uses them in real life.
- The school's rule about dress code was so vague that nobody knew what actually violated it.
❤️ Relationships
- We made a rule early on that we'd never go to bed angry, and it's probably the only reason we're still together.
- He had this rule about not talking about his family, and I respected it until I realized he was just avoiding intimacy.
- The rule we created about having one night a week just for us saved our relationship when things got really hard.
📰 News / Politics
- The rule change on campaign financing is expected to reshape the entire election landscape.
- Politicians are calling for a rule that would require transparency in political donations.
- The rule against foreign interference in elections sounds good in theory, but enforcement is nearly impossible.
💻 Technology
- The rule the algorithm uses to recommend videos is apparently based on how long you watch, not whether you actually like it.
- There's a rule in the app's terms of service that nobody reads but everyone agrees to anyway.
- The rule about two-factor authentication is annoying, but it's genuinely the only thing keeping my account safe.
📝 Formal Writing
- The rule governing subject-verb agreement is fundamental to English grammar and must be observed in all formal writing.
- According to the rule established in the previous section, all data must be verified before publication.
- The rule prohibiting the use of first-person pronouns in academic papers has been relaxed in recent years to accommodate more diverse writing styles.