There are many commonly confused words in English, such as too/two/to, there/their/they're, your/you're, despite/although, lay/lie, inquire/enquire, etc. Words get confused because they have similar sounds, spellings, and/or meanings. Tara, our head writer, recently asked for a post about the difference between assure and ensure so she could include it in a lesson. While we're at it, let's take a look at insure, too!
Assure, Ensure & Insure
Some would argue that these words are interchangeable since they can all be defined as "to make certain; to guarantee." However, most people would argue (and most dictionaries would corroborate) that they are used for different situations. I'd recommend teaching your students the most common uses (and differences) below.
| Assure | |
|---|---|
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Meaning: | to tell someone that something will definitely happen |
| Pronunciation: | /æ ˈʃʌr/ (ah-SHURE) or, when speaking quickly, /ə ˈʃʌr/ (uh-SHURE) |
| Examples: |
|
| Teaching Tip: | Look for a direct object that is a person. |
| Ensure | |
|---|---|
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Meaning: | to guarantee that something will happen |
| Pronunciation: | /ɛn ˈʃʌr/ (en-SHURE) |
| Examples: |
|
| Teaching Tip: | Look for a direct object that is not a person, or look for a noun clause instead of an object. |
| Insure | |
|---|---|
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Meaning: | to buy insurance for something (see the definition for insurance below) |
| Pronunciation: | /ɪn ˈʃʌr/ (in-SHURE) |
| Examples: |
|
| Teaching Tip: | Insure is most commonly used for legal and financial purposes. Look for a direct object that is a thing, not a person. |
Teaching Tip
I came across a great teaching tip from Charles Carson to help your students remember these terms! (I found this tip on Grammar Girl's website in a post called Assure Versus Ensure Versus Insure.) Students appreciate good memory tricks!
"…use assure for things that are alive (remember that a is for alive), ensure to guarantee events and conditions (remember those two e's at the end of guarantee), and insure for all of the above in financial contexts (remember the i is for income)."
Assurance & Insurance
How about the noun forms? Ensure doesn't have one, so we don't have to worry about that. And assurance and insurance have quite different meanings, so they are easier for students to learn than the verb forms.
| Assurance | |
|---|---|
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Meaning: | the state of being sure about something |
| Pronunciation: | /æ ˈʃʌ ˌræns/ (ah-SHU-ranse) or, when speaking quickly, /ə ˈʃʌ ˌrəns/ (uh-SHUH-rinse) |
| Example: | You say the package will arrive on time, but what assurance do I have? It was two weeks late last time. |
| Insurance | |
|---|---|
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Meaning: | a policy/agreement where payments are made to protect something against future loss or damage |
| Pronunciation: | /ɪn ˈʃʌ ˌræns/ (in-SHU-ranse) |
| Example: | Most people buy car insurance, home insurance, and life insurance to protect themselves and their families. |
Practice
Show your students the word assure in context in the description of Lesson 1, A Recipe for Disaster, of our brand new Detective Series 2, False Alarm. Did you notice that a lot of the examples above involved sending packages by mail or courier? With Christmas right around the corner, you could naturally use these terms in context at this time of year.
