Let and allow both mean to give permission, but let is simpler and more conversational, while allow is more formal and needs to before the verb. Let me go, but allow me to go. Rules, instructions and notices usually say allow; with family and friends, let is more common.
allow or let — can you pick the right one?
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let + person + verb: let me know, let her go; allow + person + to + verb: allow students to use phones; be allowed to + verb; allow + noun/-ing: Smoking is not allowed
- My parents let me stay out late on Saturdays.
- The new rules allow employees to work from home two days a week.
- Are we allowed to use dictionaries in the exam?
What changed
First versionMy boss let me to leave early yesterday.
RevisionMy boss let me leave early yesterday.
After let, the verb comes without to: let me leave, let him try. To slips in by analogy with allow me to, want me to, ask me to, but let doesn't work that way. Only to was removed.
To say that someone gave you permission, English uses I was allowed to: I was allowed to leave early. Let is rarely used in this form, and the fixed phrase be let go means to be dismissed from a job: Fifty workers were let go last month. So I was let go early sounds like news about losing your job, not about a free evening.
Your turn
Sorry, we weren't ___ to take photos inside the museum.
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allowed — The sentence needs the passive form, we weren't given permission, followed by to. Only be allowed to works like that. Let isn't used in this structure.
Write about what your parents allowed or didn't allow you to do as a child. Name at least one rule and how old you were then.
When I was twelve, my parents let me go to the cinema alone, but I wasn't allowed to come home after nine.
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