In many areas of life, such cavalier carelessness is a bad idea. Does one ensure that the package is delivered safely. 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. 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. American and british english spelling differences wikipedia. Iea style guide international association for the evaluation of. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. Sometimes, the word vocabulary refers to the words that a person knows. We have nearly lost the 2nd person singular pronoun. Compare it versus grammar difference between assure vs ensure. Other authorities, however, consider ensure and insure interchangeable.
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. 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. You hear this a lot from people who are trying to use proper english. But in this case, not thinking is actually better than thinking. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The chicago manual of style, for instance, recommends dos and donts. Also, insure is typically reserved for financial meanings. The three verbs are very much related to each other as all three of them deal with guaranteeing on thing or another. In this video linda explains the differences between assure, insure and ensure. Woman versus female grammar girl quick and dirty tips. Aug 14, 2012 my high school english class taught ensure vs. 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.
I assure you, said the grieving widow, i ensured he was insured to the hilt. Though emily had only met her fiances mother once, it was enough to assure, ensure, insure her that emily would be a good partner. In my book woe is i, i used this sentence to illustrate the traditional differences among them. To ensure is to do or have what is necessary for success. The more grammatical form, in this case, would be john and me. 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. Grammar girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Some sources note that people use assure, ensure, and insure interchangeably. Heres what they each mean and when to use them by yolande clarkjackson.
The three words, assure, ensure, and insure, are often confused. Assure vs ensure the english language can be very confusing if one is learning it as a foreign language. If they were, then cars can be ensured and confusion can be insured. Dont make these dumb grammar mistakes presented by shortstack even in this era of quick communication, good writing matters. To insure something or someone is to cover it with an insurance policy.
After reading this post, i can assure you will never misuse ensure vs. 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. Nov 26, 2007 seriously, were glad that you and many of our weekly enewsletter readers and blog writers join us in finding grammar fun. 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. Jan 20, 2015 search for the issue, or get the book and keep it close. Check the phone book to find a company that can assure, ensure, insure your storage building.
In this book, you will learn that the pursuit of proper grammar. It always grates on me when i see insure used where ensure would be a better fit. Most people regularly write stuff like we went to jamess house without stopping to think whether it should be james house. 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. I find it interesting that, during an argument for grammar, your very first sentence contains a rather nasty little comma splice. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. 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. Mignon fogarty, grammar girl, wrote a nyt bestseller, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. Its so annoying when publications use the word insure when ensure is intended. She hastened to assure me that the report contained no critical comment on my departments performance. Assure, ensure and insure are word triplets that are most commonly confused in english language by many writers. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. What you ensure results from your personal efforts.
Three oftenconfused verbsassure, ensure, and insure all mean roughly to make secure or safe or certain. 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. A more accurate title would probably be grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better grammar. 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. Learn english with lets talk free english lessons 148,934 views 7.
Grammar underground podcast grammar underground with june. Assurance is the guarantee that something will happen however insurance is the policy that covers up any losses. Confusing words and homonyms misused words in english. 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. The words are not interchangeable as some grammar sites profess. Its amazing the mistakes people make, especially news and sports announcers. Many of the differences between american and british english date back to a time when spelling standards had not yet developed. Ensure, on the other hand, is used in a much more general sense. 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. 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. Assure, ensure, and insure are three words people sometimes confuse. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon fogarty. English usage varies from region to region in multiple ways including word choice, syntax, spelling and the use of idioms.
Today, i want to clear up that confusion and outline the unique characteristics of each of these words. Therefore, ensure the tradition of excellence is a better choice. 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. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other. Briefly speaking, vocabulary is a selection of words within a certain language. Aug 19, 2016 in turnaround, fha will insure mortgages with pace assessments reuters collapsed holiday company failed to insure against brexit fallout the times. Mignon fogarty is the host of grammar girl and founder of quick and dirty tips.
Aug 26, 2019 english has a long history of confusion of singular and plural. The paperback of the grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. There are literally hundreds of different rules for grammar, style, and usage, and no one can possibly keep track of them all. Also derived from securus are the english words sure, assure, secure, and security. Assure is something you do to a person, a group of people, or an animal to remove doubt or anxiety, as in squiggly. It is possible to use the spelling of insure, ensure, and assure to distinguish the three words from one another. Learn the definitions of insure, assure, and ensure, and when to use them. Inspire a love of reading with prime book box for kids. Search for the issue, or get the book and keep it close. Copy editing, grammar, i vs me, object pronoun thank you for spending the holiday with john and i.
To ensure something is to make sure it happensto guarantee it. Grammar girl has a great podcast on these tricky words. 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. The difference between beside and besides english grammar lesson duration.
For instance, an average english speaker should have an active vocabulary of about 20,000 word. Order a copy of grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. He didnt think to insure his home until there was a leak in his roof. This handy reference guide is a great starting point for ensuring you know the. Only people can feel anxious or doubtful only they can be assured. Jul 15, as is the case with so many cancer cure testimonials, wark. Get grammar girls take on assure versus ensure versus insure. 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.
Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Sally stayed up all night drafting a policy to assure, ensure, insure her clients hovercraft. Its used to show the reader that something is being done, or is happening. Homonyms are sometimes confusing words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings. All three verbs have something to do with making sure and are therefore similar. 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. If you insure him, then youre taking out a policy on his life. Is there a grammatical reason why ensure to sounds wrong to me, or am i just not used to hearing it.
Grammar can be confusing in any language and this is especially true of the english language. Similarly, does one think that it is important to eat brussels sprouts or think it is important to eat brussels sprouts. The farlex grammar book welcome to the online home of the farlex grammar book, your complete guide to the english language. What role does the that play what part of speech is it in this context. Check out this list of common grammatical errors to make sure youre not slipping up. Jan 01, 2008 grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Is there a technical explanation, or is it just my ears. Aug 26, 2008 get grammar girl s take on assure versus ensure versus insure. Insure is the easiest to remember, because it has the same initial letters as insurance. 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.
While these words sound similar theres no situation where they could mean exactly the. Ensure to make sure something will or wont happen example. Possessives of nouns ending in s grammar underground. Whenever someone starts talking or i start reading about adjectives, adverbs. American spelling tends to use insure for both ensure and insure. Irregardless some words in the english language are so overused that we dont notice that they are incorrect or dont even exist. 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. For instance, an average english speaker should have an active vocabulary of about 20,000 words. On facebook and twitter, and especially on blogs, misspelled words and mis placed punctuation can make you look unprofessional or worse. This was 30 years ago, in the united states, so its not a matter of being trendy or trying to sound british. 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.
Your guide to gentle, nontoxic healing by bill henderson. 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. Ensure to add the ingredients one at a time sounds off, but replacing it with make sure sounds fine. Lots of folks use insure, ensure, and assure interchangeably. If a that clause follows the verb, you must use ensure. 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. James assures, ensures, insure his dog gets enough exercise by running with her each morning. Grammar girls qdt for better writing quick and dirty tips. Let me assure you i can assure you that the children will be totally safe on this.
Jan 16, 2017 in this video linda explains the differences between assure, insure and ensure. I will cover the functions, definitions, and grammar behind each word, so you can understand their differences and use them properly. Grammar underground podcast grammar underground with. Apr 17, 2018 im going to insure my new car with this company, as their prices are good. 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. This makes the connection between the two words very clear.
I assure you that our new social media marketing manager did ensure that she will insure the milliondollar diamond necklace were o. Not only do these three words sound similar, they also make an outcome sure but they are in no way. 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. While these words sound similar theres no situation where they could mean exactly the same thing. 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. Table of grammar, style, and usage writing explained. To ensure my familys safety, i have installed an alarm.
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