English Vocabulary - Assure, Ensure, Insure

Hi. My name is Emma, and today, we are going to be looking at three words. Some of these

words may be new for you. "Usher", "insure", and "insure". So these three words, they look

very similar, but they have different meanings. Okay? So this lesson is first of all going

to explain what these three words mean. So this is partially a vocabulary lesson, and

how not to confuse them. This is actually a common mistake native speakers make. They

confuse these three words all the time. So let's get started with the word "assure".

So "assure" is an important word, because it means to help someone get over anxiety

or fear. You really want to assure someone when they're feeling really terrified, anxious.

Maybe you have a friend who's about to do an exam. You want to assure her she will do

well. Okay? So here we have an example of a doctor, something a doctor might say to

you. "I assure you, you will feel no pain." So hopefully your doctor tells you that. It

means they're trying to help you get over your anxiety. Maybe you're afraid of needles.

The doctor might say, "I assure you, you'll feel no pain, no discomfort." That's what

you want to hear.

Okay, so again, "assure" is to help someone get over anxiety or fear. We use "assure"

specifically with people or with animals. Okay? So you assure someone, or you assure

an animal. You don't assure a table, you don't assure an object, because you can only help

someone get over anxiety or fear. So this is how you remember. The "a" here stands for

something that's alive. You assure something that's alive.

Okay, now similar to "assure" is the word "reassure". So we have the keyword "assure"

here. We have the prefix "re", which means "again". And so you can kind of take a guess

what this word means. "Reassure" means to help someone get over anxiety by assuring

them multiple times. So for example, have you ever had somebody who you told them, "Things

will be fine, I promise." And they didn't believe you, so then you had to say again,

"I promise you. Don't worry, things will be fine. Things will be fine." You are reassuring

them because you've had to assure them again, and again, and again. Okay?

So now let's look at "insure". So notice the difference in pronunciation. "Ah-sure" with

an "ah" sound, and "in-sure" with an "in" sound. So "insure" is to make a promise or

a guarantee. Now again, both of these are verbs, but to make a promise or a guarantee.

So for example, "He insured there would be enough food by ordering extra." Okay? So he's

guaranteeing there's going to be enough food for everyone at the party. How is he insuring

this? By ordering extra. How are you going to insure somebody does well on their exam?

Well, you can insure even yourself that you do well on your exam by studying hard. Okay?

You're guaranteeing you will do well by studying hard. Okay?

So now let's look at "insure". Finally, we have "insure". So it's pronounced the same

way as "insure". The difference is in the meaning and the spelling. Okay? So here we

have "in". So what does "insure" mean? Well, it has to do with insurance. When you get

insurance on something. So for those of you who don't know what insurance is, it's where,

for example, I have a car, I need to pay money every month in order... In the event that

maybe I have a car accident, a company will cover the cost. So this is insurance. You

pay money to a company just in case you have an accident, and then the company will cover

the cost. So we have different types of insurance. We have house insurance, car insurance, life

insurance. We use "insure" in this sense. So for example, my car is insured for a million

dollars. What does this mean? If I get into a car accident, my insurance company will

pay up to one million dollars. So say, for instance, if it's a really bad accident, a

whole bunch of cars are destroyed and damaged. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen. I'm a good

driver. But if that did happen, the insurance company would cover the cost up to a million

dollars. Okay? So this is how we use "insure". Again, it's also a verb just like "assure"

and "insure". So let's do some practice questions to gather it out.

Okay? First one, "My sister is worried. I've _____ her. She will be fine." So take a moment

to think about this. Do you think it's "assure", "insure", or "insure"? Okay? If you said the

verb "assured", "I've assured her she will be fine", you're correct. What was the clue

here? Well, we have the word "worried". So, "I know my sister is anxious and I'm telling

her things will be okay, things will be fine." So we know it's "assure". Okay?

Example number two, "You must _____ your presentation is less than five minutes." "You must _____

your presentation is less than five minutes." So take a second. Do you think this has to

do with fear? Do you think it has to do with insurance? Or do you think it has to do with

a promise or a guarantee? Well, if you said "insure" with an "e", you're correct. So in

this sentence, somebody is saying, "You must ensure your presentation is less than five

minutes." So you must guarantee, you must promise that your presentation is not going

to be too long. Okay?

So for more examples, for more practice, I hope you visit us at our website, www.engvid.com.

We have a quiz there, so you can practice "assure", "insure", and "ensure". I assure

you the quiz will be fun to do, and it will be good for you guys to do. I assure you of

that. It will ensure that you do well in English for these three words. I can't think of an

example to use for "ensure" for this specific example, but come to our quiz. All right?

So until next time, take care.