Word choice can make or break professional communication. When you confuse approval and approved, you trip over a basic shift in parts of speech that changes your entire sentence structure.
Approval functions as a noun. It represents the official act of agreeing, sanctioning, or giving consent. Approved, on the other hand, operates as an adjective or a past-participle verb form. It describes a status, showing that something has already received that necessary consent.
Mixing them up leads to clumsy paperwork, awkward business emails, and grammatical errors. Let's look at why this distinction matters and how to use both terms correctly every time.
Understanding Approval: The Noun
Approval is a noun. You can think of it as the abstract concept, the authorization event, or the formal blessing given by a person or a governing body.
Because it's a noun, it takes articles like an or the, and it pairs with action verbs. You seek approval, you grant approval, and you wait for approval.
- The city council voted on the zoning permit, and the project received approval.
- She submitted her manuscript to the publisher, hoping for final approval.
- Without managerial approval, employees can't expense travel costs over five hundred dollars.
When you use approval, you're focusing on the action of agreeing or the official state of permission existing. It doesn't describe an object or a person directly; it names the authorization itself.
Understanding Approved: The Adjective and Verb
Approved functions as a past participle. It usually works as an adjective describing a noun, or as the main verb in a passive sentence structure.
When you call something approved, you mean it has successfully cleared the evaluation hurdle. It possesses the stamp of validation.
- The mechanic installed approved replacement parts on the vehicle.
- Your vacation request is approved for the first week of July.
- The committee reviewed the budget and marked it approved.
Notice how approved modifies a noun or completes a state of being. You don't "seek approved"—you seek approval, and once you get it, your project becomes approved.
Direct Comparison: Spotting the Grammatical Shift
The easiest way to master these two terms is to look at how they swap parts of speech within the exact same scenario.
- Noun version: We are waiting for budget approval from the finance director.
- Adjective version: The budget is approved, so we can start hiring.
In the first example, approval acts as the direct object of the prepositional phrase "waiting for." In the second example, approved acts as a predicate adjective describing the state of the budget.
Another common mix-up happens in corporate shorthand. People often write "pending approval status" or "pending approved status." The correct phrase is always pending approval, because you are waiting for the noun—the action of consent—to take place.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Writers often stumble when translating these words into active versus passive voice. Consider these frequent errors:
- Incorrect: We need to get the design approved by Friday afternoon. (Grammatically acceptable if treating approved as a participle, but awkward compared to the next option).
- Better: We need to get design approval by Friday afternoon.
- Incorrect: The manager gave his approved for the new hire. (Incorrect because "approved" cannot act as a standalone noun here).
- Correct: The manager gave his approval for the new hire.
If you can substitute the word "permission," use approval. If you can substitute the word "validated" or "certified," use approved.
For more guidance on standard English grammar rules and punctuation conventions, check out The Chicago Manual of Style Online and Merriam-Webster.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can approved ever be used as a noun?
No. Approved is strictly a verb form or an adjective. If you need a noun to represent the state of being agreed upon, you must use approval.
Is it correct to write "approved by me"?
Yes. In this case, approved acts as a past participle in a passive construction, meaning "which has been approved by me." It's grammatically sound.
How do I know which one to put on a form checkbox?
If you are labeling a category or a status column in a spreadsheet, use Approved (alongside Pending and Rejected) because it describes the items in that row. If you are naming a workflow phase, use Approval Process.
Does pre-approval follow the same rule?
Yes. Pre-approval is a compound noun referring to an preliminary authorization, such as a mortgage pre-approval. Once the lender finishes the check, your loan status becomes pre-approved.
