STOP confusing these words! Especially or Specially? Assure or Ensure? (+ Free PDF & Quiz)

946,385 views ・ 2020-12-02

English with Lucy


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Hello everyone, and welcome back to English  with Lucy. Today, I'm going to help you out  
0
0
5840
00:05
with some doubts. We are going to talk about five  pairs or trios of very confusing English words,  
1
5840
7600
00:14
pairs of words that native speakers  struggle with too. Words like especially  
2
14160
6000
00:20
and specially, why are they so similar? Accept  and except. Assure, ensure, insure, inquire,  
3
20160
10800
00:30
enquire. Which ones do we use? I'm going to tell  you. Before we get started, I would just like to  
4
30960
5920
00:36
thank the sponsor of today's video. It is the  number one trusted European language school,  
5
36880
6640
00:43
Lingoda, with their language sprint. With the  sprint, you can learn to speak English confidently  
6
43520
6080
00:49
in just three months, gain 100% of your money  back, and get free access to the Cambridge  
7
49600
6880
00:56
online speaking test. You just need to take one  of their 24/7 classes every day for three months  
8
56480
6480
01:02
and get your course fees completely refunded. Click on the link in the description box to check  
9
62960
5280
01:08
the dates for this sprint. Be quick. If you miss  the deadline or the spaces are already filled,  
10
68240
5440
01:13
you will miss out. The super sprint offers  a 100% refund, and there is also the lighter  
11
73680
5840
01:19
regular sprint option, which offers a 50%  refund. You can join the sprint in English,  
12
79520
6080
01:25
French, German, Spanish, and business  English, from beginner to advanced level.  
13
85600
5440
01:31
I am really happy to share this opportunity with  you, because I've had firsthand experience of how  
14
91040
5840
01:36
effective the Lingoda language challenges can be.  They've transformed many of my students' lives.  
15
96880
5840
01:42
They love Lingoda because they can interact in  small groups with amazing qualified teachers. Over  
16
102720
6400
01:50
35,000 students have participated in previous  Lingoda language challenges, with many of them  
17
110320
5760
01:56
transforming their lives, overcoming their fear  of speaking, and becoming able to get new jobs.  
18
116080
6400
02:02
I secretly joined one of Lingoda's sprint  Facebook groups to see how everyone was  
19
122480
4560
02:07
getting on. And I was completely blown away by  the amount of students celebrating their refunds  
20
127040
5680
02:12
and their fluency transformations. So how can  you participate? Sign up for the sprint before  
21
132720
5600
02:18
the deadline and pay your deposit to secure your  spot. You can get €10 euros off by using my code,  
22
138320
6480
02:24
"WIN7". Lingoda will refund your tuition fee in  full if you attend the agreed number of classes  
23
144800
6320
02:31
within each sprint month by following the contest  rules. Remember, places in the sprint are limited.  
24
151120
6320
02:37
This is a language school, places  fill up. So you have the link in the  
25
157440
4240
02:41
description box. You have my €10 discount  code, "WIN7" what are you waiting for?  
26
161680
6640
02:48
Right, let's get started with the confusing  words. And to make this even easier for you,  
27
168320
6160
02:54
I have created a PDF worksheet. We've got  all of the words, their pronunciation,  
28
174480
5840
03:00
all of the information from the video, plus some  additional activities as well. Do bear in mind,  
29
180320
6320
03:06
this is a two-part video. You can also find  the second part in the description box. But  
30
186640
5760
03:12
the order doesn't matter. So the first one  we have, especially and specially. Especially  
31
192400
7600
03:20
means more with one person or thing than with  others, or more in particular circumstances  
32
200000
7920
03:27
than others. In my opinion, it's quite a hard  word to define. It's easier if you see it  
33
207920
5200
03:33
used in a sentence. For example, I love Seville,  especially in the spring. So I love Seville in  
34
213120
7440
03:40
general, but I love it even more in the spring.  Or, baby animals are cute, especially puppies.  
35
220560
8000
03:48
So I think all baby animals are cute, but  I really think that puppies are so cute,  
36
228560
5840
03:54
maybe that little bit more cute, that  little bit cuter. Now, specially means  
37
234400
5120
03:59
for a particular purpose or a particular person.  An example, I made this cake specially for you.  
38
239520
7120
04:06
Now, here's the complicated bit. In British  English, we tend to use the two interchangeably.  
39
246640
7280
04:13
It can be really hard to hear the difference when  people speak. Specially tends to be less formal.  
40
253920
7040
04:21
And I think that part of the reason for this is  because it sounds like you are lazily dropping  
41
261520
6400
04:27
a syllable. I made this cake specially for you.  It almost sounds like someone's trying to say,  
42
267920
6320
04:34
especially for you, but they're dropping a  syllable. And actually, I would be inclined  
43
274240
4640
04:38
to say, I made this especially for you. And  that is something that you will hear a lot  
44
278880
4800
04:43
in British English. I made this cake especially  for you. I made this cake specially for you.  
45
283680
5440
04:49
So in general, in American English, they  differentiate between these words more. And  
46
289760
4880
04:54
in British English, we just use especially  in formal situations and specially in less  
47
294640
6800
05:01
formal situations. But really, it does depend on  the person and what they have grown up hearing.  
48
301440
6080
05:08
Number two, we have loose and lose. So there's  a big pronunciation difference here. Well,  
49
308160
9040
05:17
I say big. It's very subtle, but it is quite  important. Loose with the s at the end, and lose  
50
317200
9360
05:27
with z at the end. But they are minimal pairs.  They only differ in one sound, that final  
51
327200
7280
05:34
phoneme z, s. Loose is an adjective meaning  not tight or not securely fixed. For example,  
52
334480
10640
05:45
I need to go to the dentist because my tooth is  loosed. It's not securely fixed into my mouth.  
53
345120
6720
05:52
Or I lost weight and now my clothes are  loose. They're not tight. They are loose.  
54
352560
6400
05:59
Now, to lose is a verb, meaning to  not be able to find something, or  
55
359760
6560
06:06
to fail to keep something as well. Examples, go  to the dentist before you lose your loose tooth.  
56
366320
8080
06:16
Before you lose (verb), your loose (adjective),  tooth. Or she wants to lose weight to make her  
57
376160
8800
06:24
clothes loose. She wants to lose (verb) weight to  make her clothes loose (adjective). It is very,  
58
384960
9920
06:34
very common to see people misspelling  these words and using the wrong one,  
59
394880
3680
06:39
so don't beat yourself up about it. I know I  say this a lot, but seriously, it's just not  
60
399360
4160
06:43
the end of the world. We will understand what  you're trying to say. Number three, we have  
61
403520
5280
06:48
accept and except. So with a, accept, we  use the schwa, accept. And with e, except,  
62
408800
11600
07:00
we use an e sound, except. Now in general, in  British English and modern received pronunciation,  
63
420400
7920
07:08
you will hear people just using the schwa for  both, except, except, except, except. When you  
64
428320
6080
07:14
speak quickly, you often find yourself using the  most convenient or efficient way of pronouncing  
65
434400
5760
07:20
something. So the schwa gets used a lot. Now, I'm going to use a and e for emphasis so that  
66
440160
6080
07:26
you know, which word I am referring to. Accept  is a verb, but except is usually a preposition  
67
446240
8800
07:35
or conjunction. It is sometimes a verb and I will  touch on that later. But accept as in to accept  
68
455040
7840
07:42
is to agree or to receive something if offered.  An example, I will not accept your apology,  
69
462880
5920
07:49
or I hope they accept the proposed changes.  Now let's look at except with the E,  
70
469360
6800
07:56
except. It generally means apart from or  excluding or with the exception of. An example,  
71
476720
8560
08:05
I study every day except Sundays, or we look  exactly the same, except my hair is darker.  
72
485280
7440
08:13
A little memory tip, the EX, ex of except can  be used to remind you that it is excluding,  
73
493520
9840
08:23
ex excluding. Now to except as a verb  with an E is very, very formal and it is  
74
503360
10000
08:33
rarely used. It means to not include something  or someone, you will usually see it in written  
75
513360
7600
08:40
English and I'll explain why. Look at this  sentence. Tours are arranged all year round,  
76
520960
6240
08:47
January excepted. Okay. So it's quite confusing,  if that sentence is said in spoken English.  
77
527200
6640
08:54
January excepted, is January accepted as in  they agree to it? Or is it excepted as in it  
78
534480
7920
09:02
is not included? When you see it written down, you  can see it means that it is excluded. January is  
79
542400
5680
09:08
not included. You won't come across this verb  very frequently. It's just another example of  
80
548080
6000
09:14
English being a pain in the neck. That's an idiom  meaning really annoying for accepted and excepted  
81
554080
6560
09:20
to mean the opposite, but to sound the  same. Oh, it's just so annoying.  
82
560640
4400
09:25
We have number four and this is a trio. We have  assure, ensure and insure, okay. So the last two  
83
565040
10960
09:36
have the same pronunciation ensure, insure. So  let's look at the three to assure with an A, is to  
84
576000
9680
09:45
remove someone's doubts. I assure you that I will  arrive on time. Don't worry, don't have any doubts  
85
585680
8080
09:53
I will arrive on time. To ensure with E N is to  guarantee or to make sure that something happens.  
86
593760
8800
10:02
I need to study to ensure that I pass my exam.  So assure and ensure a very similar, assure with  
87
602560
8000
10:10
an A, to remove someone's doubts and ensure with  E N is to guarantee that something will happen.  
88
610560
6480
10:17
To insure with I N, is to cover someone or  something like a house with an insurance policy.  
89
617600
8640
10:26
An example, the insurance company won't protect  my house against flooding. Now frustratingly  
90
626240
7360
10:33
some policies, some insurance policies also have  assurance policies as well, which just makes it so  
91
633600
8560
10:42
confusing, but let's not worry about that. We  know the basic differences between the three.  
92
642160
4480
10:47
Finally, we have number five, which is inquire  and enquire. The same pronunciation again, they  
93
647360
10720
10:58
have very similar meanings. Well actually they  mean the same thing, but sometimes they're used  
94
658080
6320
11:04
in different situations. So they both mean to ask  someone for information. Now in American English,  
95
664400
7440
11:11
once again, they have made this easier for you.  They tend to favour inquire with I N, so enquire,  
96
671840
8720
11:21
you won't hear it as frequently in general. I'm  having to make a lot of generalisations here.  
97
681280
5040
11:26
However, the UK British English, we just  liked to make everything that little  
98
686320
4480
11:31
more complicated. Traditionally, to enquire  as in E N to enquire simply meant to ask,  
99
691360
7920
11:40
but inquire, I'm just using, in and en for  emphasis so you know which word I'm referring to.  
100
700000
6400
11:47
Inquire was used for formal investigations. So I  would enquire at a tourist information desk to see  
101
707040
9280
11:56
where the best ice cream shop was, but the police  or a court would inquire about something.  
102
716320
6720
12:03
However, nowadays both are used interchangeably.  So people are just using words without knowing  
103
723040
7280
12:10
exactly what they mean, which is fine. I imagine  eventually we will end up just favouring one.  
104
730320
5360
12:16
I wonder if it will be inquire or enquire,  time will tell probably. Right. That's it for  
105
736240
7600
12:23
today's lesson. There is also a part two to this  lesson, which I posted a week before this one.  
106
743840
7600
12:31
In that video, we discuss either or neither  or either or neither, we talk about the  
107
751440
4800
12:36
pronunciation and which one you should use. We  discuss to bring and to take, advise and advice,  
108
756240
6880
12:43
practise and practise, and also effect and affect,  with E and with A. It's a very interesting lesson,  
109
763920
7840
12:51
if I do say so myself, and don't forget, I've made  all of this easier for you. I have created a free  
110
771760
6000
12:57
PDF for you to download. It's got all of these  confusing words, the pronunciation information,  
111
777760
6720
13:04
the clarifications, the examples,  and also some additional activities  
112
784480
4960
13:09
that I think you'll really like. If you'd like to download that PDF,  
113
789440
3440
13:12
all you've got to do is sign up to my mailing  list. The link is in the description box  
114
792880
4160
13:17
and the PDF will be sent straight to your inbox.  Don't forget to check out Lingoda. The link for  
115
797040
6160
13:23
the sprint is in the description box as well.  And you can use my code "WIN7" for 10 euros off.  
116
803200
6960
13:30
Don't forget to connect with me on all  of my social media. I've got my Facebook,  
117
810160
4160
13:34
my Instagram, my mailing list. I've also got my  personal blogging channel where I upload lots  
118
814320
6560
13:40
of subtitled, always fully subtitled blogs. So  you can use them as listening practise, they're  
119
820880
5200
13:46
all about my life in the English countryside.  And I have just released my first ever course.  
120
826080
5920
13:52
It is a British English pronunciation course,  where I teach modern received pronunciation.  
121
832000
5200
13:57
That is my accent. If you are interested in  that, the link is also in the description box,  
122
837200
5920
14:03
as well as a little good surprise. I  will see you soon for another lesson.  
123
843120
12720
14:29
Mwah!
124
869840
500
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7