Assure, ensure and insure
From “Woe is I” by Patricia T. O’Conner:
assure/ensure/insure. All three have their roots in a Latin word for “safe” or “secure.” In American English, to assure is to instill confidence or certainty. As for ensure and insure, both can mean to make certain of something, but only insure is used in the commercial sense (to issue or take out insurance). “I assure you,” said the grieving widow, “I ensured he was insured to the hilt.”
Tips:
1. The object of assure is a person or people (or maybe your pet or another animate object, if you’re really into personifying it).
2. Use ensure if substituting guarantee would not change the meaning.
3. In AP style, we use insure only in references to insurance.
Exercises:
1. Let me (assure/ensure/insure) you that you’ll have a great time doing these exercises.
2. The company won’t (assure/ensure/insure) me because of my pre-existing condition.
3. Can you (assure/ensure/insure) I’ll make it to the airport on time if I take BART?
4. I (assured/ensured/insured) him that I’d (assured/ensured/insured) the car.
5. It was reassuring when she (assured/ensured/insured) me that the company would (assure/ensure/insure) me.
6. I (assured/ensured/insured) Pebbles that I would come home to give her a walk.
7. I (assured/ensured/insured) that I would be able to give Pebbles a walk.
8. I didn’t know at the time that she already had (assured/ensured/insured) I’d have a table at the restaurant.
Thanks to Henry for suggesting that I post my worksheet here. I’ll be posting the answers to the exercises at a later time, after I’ve shared this worksheet with my reporters.
