Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

The following sentences are what i came across during my reading.
1 Teachers report that the 'no hat-no play' rule has been successful.
What does the 'no hat-no play' rule mean?

2 The traffic lights went green and I pulled away.
Shouldn't we use 'turned green' instead of 'went green'?
As far as i know, we use "go+adjective" in such cases as "go mad/wrong".
Does native speakers say "go green" in the case of traffic lights?

Thanks a million!

Jasonlulu

[CP]

1. It is the rule that children in school who don't have hats cannot play outside. I think it is mostly an Australian thing, where the hole in the ozone makes the risk of sunburn very great.

2. The expression is "the light turned green" or "turned red." In the U.S., at least, we don't say "went green / red."

The expressions "go mad / crazy / cuckoo / nuts" and "go wrong / astray" are common.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[redset]

'Went green/red' is fine in British English, it's quite informal though. You can use 'go' to talk about all kinds of changes, like 'the crowd became/went quiet'.