Compare it versus grammar difference between assure vs ensure. Woman versus female grammar girl quick and dirty tips. While these words sound similar theres no situation where they could mean exactly the same thing. Check out this list of common grammatical errors to make sure youre not slipping up. Sally stayed up all night drafting a policy to assure, ensure, insure her clients hovercraft. It always grates on me when i see insure used where ensure would be a better fit. Though emily had only met her fiances mother once, it was enough to assure, ensure, insure her that emily would be a good partner. Sometimes, the word vocabulary refers to the words that a person knows. What you ensure results from your personal efforts. Iea style guide international association for the evaluation of. Search for the issue, or get the book and keep it close. Mignon fogarty, grammar girl, wrote a nyt bestseller, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. There are many words that sound the same or even look the same, but these words are used in entirely different contexts as they have entirely different meanings. Ensure, on the other hand, is used in a much more general sense.
So, lets explore many thesauri list these as synonyms for each other, so that helps to confuse us further in general, to assure is to lend confidence, to ensure is to confirm, and to insure is to indemnify as with an insurance policy and insure may have legal implications. She hastened to assure me that the report contained no critical comment on my departments performance. Also, insure is typically reserved for financial meanings. We have nearly lost the 2nd person singular pronoun. Ensure april 17, 2018 no comments theres a large overlap between insure and ensure when it comes to their definitions, and many people find it hard to differentiate the two. She is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame, and the show is a fivetime winner of best education podcast in the podcast awards. In many areas of life, such cavalier carelessness is a bad idea. Lots of folks use insure, ensure, and assure interchangeably. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon fogarty. The chicago manual of style, for instance, recommends dos and donts. Its so annoying when publications use the word insure when ensure is intended. Whenever someone starts talking or i start reading about adjectives, adverbs. The farlex grammar book welcome to the online home of the farlex grammar book, your complete guide to the english language. See more ideas about grammar, grammar and punctuation and teaching grammar.
Usage describes the way a language is used by native speakers, it is the application of grammar rules at a local level. Is there a grammatical reason why ensure to sounds wrong to me, or am i just not used to hearing it. I wrote this book for writers who want to write effectively and compellingly but dont want to spend a lot of time sifting through grammar textbooks or. Similarly, does one think that it is important to eat brussels sprouts or think it is important to eat brussels sprouts. All three verbs have something to do with making sure and are therefore similar. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. I assure you, said the grieving widow, i ensured he was insured to the hilt. Inspire a love of reading with prime book box for kids. Its amazing the mistakes people make, especially news and sports announcers. The assignment included an established author explaining her creation process, how she chose the barn image and how she formed this idea of a girl whos afraid to ride because she broke her leg getting bucked off her horse, but then theres a fire and someone has to ride for help, but her horse is skittish and wont let her friend get on. Heres what they each mean and when to use them by yolande clarkjackson. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. Grammar girls qdt for better writing quick and dirty tips.
He didnt think to insure his home until there was a leak in his roof. So, lets explore many thesauri list these as synonyms for each other, so that helps to confuse us further in general, to assure is to lend confidence, to ensure is to confirm, and to insure is to indemnify as with an insurance policy and insure. To ensure my familys safety, i have installed an alarm. There has been no empirical investigation of the bill henderson protocols safety and efficacy to date, limiting the information edition of his book cancer free, mr henderson stated medicine in cancer. Order a copy of grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. Assure vs ensure the english language can be very confusing if one is learning it as a foreign language. After reading this post, i can assure you will never misuse ensure vs.
For instance, an average english speaker should have an active vocabulary of about 20,000 words. Not only do these three words sound similar, they also make an outcome sure but they are in no way. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other. Grammar girl has a great podcast on these tricky words. On its path from latin through french and into english, securus became simplified and took on a variety of prefixes, thus leading to the confusingly similar english verbs assure, ensure, and insure.
Some sources note that people use assure, ensure, and insure interchangeably. There are many words that sound the same or even look the same, but these words are used in entirely different contexts as they have entirely different mean. The paperback of the grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. Does one ensure that the package is delivered safely. Get grammar girls take on assure versus ensure versus insure. Its used to show the reader that something is being done, or is happening. Only people can feel anxious or doubtful only they can be assured. Mignon fogarty is the host of grammar girl and founder of quick and dirty tips. Insure makes the distinction that the definition of ensure is to make sure something will or wont happen, whereas insure means to issue an insurance policy. Aug 26, 2008 get grammar girl s take on assure versus ensure versus insure. A more accurate title would probably be grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better grammar. Table of grammar, style, and usage writing explained. To insure something or someone is to cover it with an insurance policy.
Let me assure you i can assure you that the children will be totally safe on this. If you insure him, then youre taking out a policy on his life. In this video linda explains the differences between assure, insure and ensure. The three words, assure, ensure, and insure, are often confused. Is there a technical explanation, or is it just my ears. Possessives of nouns ending in s grammar underground. Therefore, ensure the tradition of excellence is a better choice. Jan 20, 2015 search for the issue, or get the book and keep it close. Lastly, insure is a verb which means to secure or protect someone against a possible contingency or arrange for compensation in the event of damage to or loss of property, or injury to or the death of someone, in exchange for regular advance payments to a company or government agency. There are literally hundreds of different rules for grammar, style, and usage, and no one can possibly keep track of them all.
You may be thinking, how did he ever make it through the last few months of election coverage and financial meltdowns without any pet peeve updates. Check the phone book to find a company that can assure, ensure, insure your storage building. Ensure to make sure something will or wont happen example. In this book, you will learn that the pursuit of proper grammar. James assures, ensures, insure his dog gets enough exercise by running with her each morning.
The three verbs are very much related to each other as all three of them deal with guaranteeing on thing or another. Learn english with lets talk free english lessons 148,934 views 7. If a that clause follows the verb, you must use ensure. Three oftenconfused verbsassure, ensure, and insure all mean roughly to make secure or safe or certain. The more grammatical form, in this case, would be john and me.
I will cover the functions, definitions, and grammar behind each word, so you can understand their differences and use them properly. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Assurance is the guarantee that something will happen however insurance is the policy that covers up any losses. English usage varies from region to region in multiple ways including word choice, syntax, spelling and the use of idioms. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.
Grammar at a glance i bet you thought grammar couldnt get any more quick and dirty than it did in the previous pages, but heres the quickest grammar of all, culled from lengthier explanations found elsewhere in this book. It is possible to use the spelling of insure, ensure, and assure to distinguish the three words from one another. Also derived from securus are the english words sure, assure, secure, and security. Copy editing, grammar, i vs me, object pronoun thank you for spending the holiday with john and i. American and british english spelling differences wikipedia. Grammar underground podcast grammar underground with.
What role does the that play what part of speech is it in this context. Aug 19, 2016 in turnaround, fha will insure mortgages with pace assessments reuters collapsed holiday company failed to insure against brexit fallout the times. Insure is the easiest to remember, because it has the same initial letters as insurance. These blankets ensure that youll be warm enough to insure is to cover with an insurance policy what you insure you entrust to a business. I find it interesting that, during an argument for grammar, your very first sentence contains a rather nasty little comma splice. Grammar girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Briefly speaking, vocabulary is a selection of words within a certain language. Assure, ensure, and insure are three words people sometimes confuse. As long as you remember their different uses, i assure you that you can always ensure that you are using these words properly and in turn, insure yourself from possible moments of. With the trademark wit, warmth, and approachability that the podcasts are known for, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. Nov 26, 2007 seriously, were glad that you and many of our weekly enewsletter readers and blog writers join us in finding grammar fun. This makes the connection between the two words very clear. To ensure is to do or have what is necessary for success.
On facebook and twitter, and especially on blogs, misspelled words and mis placed punctuation can make you look unprofessional or worse. I assure you that our new social media marketing manager did ensure that she will insure the milliondollar diamond necklace were o. The difference between beside and besides english grammar lesson duration. Confusing words and homonyms misused words in english. Many of the differences between american and british english date back to a time when spelling standards had not yet developed. However by taking the time to look over common grammatical errors, you will be able to avoid making them in your written and spoken language.
There werent a whole lot of actual writing tips, with the exception of a short chapter near the end with advice like avoid cliches like the plague. But in this case, not thinking is actually better than thinking. The words are not interchangeable as some grammar sites profess. Apr 17, 2018 im going to insure my new car with this company, as their prices are good. Jul 15, as is the case with so many cancer cure testimonials, wark. Assure, ensure and insure are word triplets that are most commonly confused in english language by many writers. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. Learn the definitions of insure, assure, and ensure, and when to use them. While these words sound similar theres no situation where they could mean exactly the. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. If they were, then cars can be ensured and confusion can be insured. These words do not have the same meanings, sounds or spellings but their very close spellings and pronunciation is the root cause of all the confusion we have to face. Covering the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers, grammar girl makes complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to help you recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules.
Aug 14, 2019 after youve revised your book, story, blog post or article until you can revise no more, you just hand it off to your editor to clean up, right. Dont make these dumb grammar mistakes presented by shortstack even in this era of quick communication, good writing matters. Assure is something you do to a person, a group of people, or an animal to remove doubt or anxiety, as in squiggly. This was 30 years ago, in the united states, so its not a matter of being trendy or trying to sound british. Your guide to gentle, nontoxic healing by bill henderson. Aug 14, 2012 my high school english class taught ensure vs. Most people regularly write stuff like we went to jamess house without stopping to think whether it should be james house.
Ensure to add the ingredients one at a time sounds off, but replacing it with make sure sounds fine. For instance, some spellings seen as american today were once commonly used in britain and some spellings seen as british were once commonly used in. In my book woe is i, i used this sentence to illustrate the traditional differences among them. We do enjoy fine distinctions and thats why the blog titled, assure vs ensure vs insure makes distinctions between these words even though the distinctions are not always quite so clearly defined. For instance, an average english speaker should have an active vocabulary of about 20,000 word. Jan 16, 2017 in this video linda explains the differences between assure, insure and ensure. American spelling tends to use insure for both ensure and insure.
Other authorities, however, consider ensure and insure interchangeable. Jan 01, 2008 grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing book. This handy reference guide is a great starting point for ensuring you know the. Grammar can be confusing in any language and this is especially true of the english language. Grammar underground podcast grammar underground with june. Aug 26, 2019 english has a long history of confusion of singular and plural.
Homonyms are sometimes confusing words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings. Irregardless some words in the english language are so overused that we dont notice that they are incorrect or dont even exist. You hear this a lot from people who are trying to use proper english. To ensure something is to make sure it happensto guarantee it. Today, i want to clear up that confusion and outline the unique characteristics of each of these words.
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