‘REMIND’ or ‘REMEMBER’?

Hello. My name is Emma; and in today's video, I'm going to explain the

difference between "remind" and "remember". I'm also going to talk about

the grammar of "remind" and the grammar of "remember", and the rules that go

along with these two words. So, let's start with "remind". I'm going to first

start by showing you two sentences. I have: "The nurse reminded me to take my

medication." My second sentence is: "Facebook reminded me to wish my friend

'Happy Birthday.'" So, can you guess: What does it mean to "remind someone to

do something"? Well, when we "remind someone", it means someone or something

makes you think of something. Okay? So, when you're using the word "remind", we

have "someone" or "something". In this case, the "nurse" is someone; "Facebook"

is something; we have the verb "remind"; we have a person — "me". So, it "reminds

me" to think about this. So, the nurse makes me think: "Take your medicine."

Facebook makes me think: "Wish my friend a Happy Birthday." Okay? So, you need an

object or a person to make use... to make you think of something. I know that

sounds confusing, but when I show you more examples, it's going to become very

clear and easy. So, one thing I wanted to say about the word "remind" is

"remind" is always followed by a person. The person doesn't have to be "me"; it

can be: "me", "you" "him", "her", "them", "us", "Jane", "my mom", "my dad"

— it can be any person. So, you'll notice here is "remind", it's followed

by "me". I could change this to: "remind you", "remind her", "remind them" —

okay? — as long as there's a person after the word, then you're doing it

correctly. Okay. So, now we're going to look at some other examples of "remind"

to really help you understand this word.

Okay. So, I'm going to give you four examples of "remind", and then we'll

talk about the grammar of each of these sentences. So, my first example is: "My

calendar reminds me of my appointments." So, in my agenda, I have a calendar; and

I write down my doctor appointments, my dentist, any meetings I have —

everything I have to do in a week I write in my agenda. So, when I see this

agenda or when I see my calendar, it makes me think of what I need to do. "It

reminds me of what I need to do." So, in this case, my calendar "reminds me" of

my appointments. It makes me think of my appointments. I am a very forgetful

person, so I need to be reminded of things a lot. I use this little notepad

to write down anything I need to be reminded of. So, for example: "This

notepad reminds me to wear sunscreen." I always forget to wear sunscreen; and

when I get a sunburn, I look like a tomato. So, I write down: "wear

sunscreen", and I tape this to my door; so that way, whenever I'm about to go

outside, I think: "Oh, I need sunscreen." So, this pad of paper

reminds me to wear sunscreen. It also reminds me — I have a lot written down

here — to buy milk today.

My next sentence is about my brother. "The dentist reminded my brother that he

needs to floss more." So, for a lot of people, when they go to the dentist, the

dentist often says: "You need to floss." The dentist reminds people to floss.

Okay? So, this is a great example. And, again, we always have a person after the

word "remind". And it's either a thing or a person that makes us think of

something. So in this case, the dentist is making my brother think he needs to

floss. Now, there's another way we use "remind" in English, and that's where

it's similar to, resemble, or look like, smell like; to have something similar to

something else. So, I'm going to give you an example of this. "I remind my

aunt of my grandma." I have, here, a photo of my grandma. You probably can't

see it, but her and I actually look like twins. When my grandma was younger, she

looked very much like me. So, when my aunt sees me, she thinks: "Wow, they

look a lot alike." So, I remind my aunt of my grandma. When my aunt sees me, she

thinks of my grandma. I'm going to give you another example of this, which is

true, and I think it's quite funny. Somebody has said to me: "You remind me

of Nicole Kidman." I don't think I look like Nicole Kidman, but I loved the

compliment. So, thank you for that. Another thing somebody said to me was:

"You remind me of Barbie." I also take that as a compliment. So, it means I'm

similar to Nicole Kidman and Barbie. I don't know if you agree, but that's what

I've heard before. So, now let's look at the grammar of "remind".

Okay. So, we have the thing, or the object, the verb "remind", the person —

in this case, "me" — the next word we can use... there's different words we

can use. One word we can use is "of". If we use "of", the next word needs to be a

noun. So, for example: "My calendar reminds me of my appointments.",

"Facebook reminds me of my friend's birthday." So, "of" is always followed

by a noun in this case. Another... Well, I shouldn't say: "always"; there's

always exceptions, but it's usually followed with a noun. Another thing you

might notice in the next sentence is we have the word, here, "to". We often use

"remind" and "to" together. So, we have: "This notepad reminds me" — again,

"remind" is always followed by a person — "to wear sunscreen". When we're

talking about a task or some kind of job we have to do, we often use "to" and

then a verb. "My mother reminds me to call her.", "My grandmother reminds me

to send her a postcard." These are examples of using "remind" with "to".

So, we can use it with "of", we can use it with "to", and we can also use it

with the word "that". "The dentist reminded my brother that he needs to

floss more." When we use "that", the next thing that follows is a subject.

So, that can be: "he", "she", "I", "you", "they", and a verb. So: "The

dentist reminded my brother that he needs to floss more.", "I reminded my

brother that he owes me money." Okay? So, another example of using "that". And

finally, when we talk about "resemble", we usually use "of". So, if you want to

say someone looks like someone else or reminds you in another way of someone

else — it can be their personality is similar, the way they talk is similar,

you know, the way they think is similar, any... any way they are similar — you

can use: "remind (the person) of", and then the second person. Now, let's look

at how we use "remember" in a sentence and how it is different than "remind".

All right. So, now let's talk about "remember". "Remember" means to think

about a memory from the past or something from the past. The difference

between "remember" and "remind" is: With "remind", you need a person or a thing

to make you think about something else; with "remember", you don't need anything

— I can just remember just by thinking. Okay? So, here are some examples. "Do

you remember what you wore yesterday?" So, what clothes did you wear yesterday?

Do you remember? So, if I think, I can remember. I remember wearing a flower

dress; a different flower dress. I remember, yesterday, I wore a choker or

a nice necklace. And I remember, yesterday, I wore sandals. "Can you

remember what you wore yesterday?" So, again, notice I didn't need an object,

and I didn't need a person; I could think of it myself. Let's look at

another example of "remember". "I remember when I went to Spain." So, I

went to Spain when I was fifteen or sixteen years old. It was my first trip

outside of Canada. So, I remember when I went to Spain; I have a memory about

Spain. I have many memories from Spain. So, I use "remember". "I remember my

first boyfriend; Tim was his name." So, I can think about memories of Tim from

my past. I don't need to see Tim to do this; I just can think of it. "I

remember visiting my grandma when I was a child." A couple of weeks ago, I saw

my kindergarten teacher. And I was very happy, because my kindergarten teacher

said: "I remember you." Well, hopefully that's a good thing, because your

kindergarten teacher either remembers you because you were a great student or

you were terrible. I don't know which one, but my... my kindergarten teacher

said: "I remember you." So, these are some examples of "remember".

Now, let's talk about the grammar of "remember". It's very different from the

grammar of "remind". With "remind", we always have a person after the word

"remind". With "remember", we don't; we use other things after "remember". So,

let's look at the first... the first sentence I wrote. "Do you remember what

you wore yesterday?" We often use words like: "what", "when", "why", "who" after

"remember". "Do you remember who your first crush was?", "Do you remember why

you chose to study English?" Okay? So, we often use: "what", "when", "why",

"how" with the word "remember". Here's another example of that: "I remember

when I went to Spain." And notice after these words, like, "what" and "when" —

we have a subject and a verb. Okay. Another thing we can do after "remember"

is we can just have a noun. A "noun" is a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

So, here I have: "I remember my first boyfriend, Tim". "Tim's" a noun. Okay?

So, I could say: "I remember Tim." It's a very simple sentence; but again, it's

a noun. We don't need anything else. Or here's another example of that: "I

remember you". I'm a noun; I'm a person. "I remember the chair.", "I remember the

cup." So, you can use "remember" with a noun. Okay. Now, I have another example.

"I remember visiting my grandma." So, here, we have a verb after "remember".

And notice what the verb looks like; it has "ing" at the end. So, sometimes when

we use the... the verb "remember", the verb after has "ing". And we use "ing"

when we're talking about an action in the past. So: "I remember visiting my

grandma.", "I remember watching Star Wars.", "I remember going to my friend's

house yesterday." Okay? So, notice I use "ing" with each of those verbs? Okay.

So, now, I'm going to talk about one last grammar point with the word

"remember".

So, when we're talking about things in the past, we can also use the word

"that" after "remember". So, here's an example: "I remember that I had a nice

teacher. I remember she was very sweet.", "I remember that I loved school

as a kid. I loved English as a kid." So, notice that after the word "that", I

have a subject and a verb. So: "I remember that I had a nice teacher.", "I

remember that I loved English." I still love English, but I loved English as a

kid. So, anytime after "that" you need a subject and a verb. So, let's talk about

the last point about "remember". We can also use "remember to" and a verb. When

we use "remember to" and a verb, we're talking about a task or a job. In this

case, it means: "Don't forget to do a task or a job." So, for example:

"Remember to buy milk." And so, after "to" we have the verb "to buy".

"Remember to call me." I always forget to call people. So, my mom always tells

me: "Remember to call me." I tell this to my students a lot: "Remember to do

your homework." Many students forget, so I have to say: "Don't forget. Remember

to do your homework."

And here's the last thing I'll say: Remember to check out www.engvid.com. On

this website, there's a quiz about everything I have just talked about in

this video. So, you can practice the difference between "remind" and

"remember", and all the grammar points I covered. There are a lot of other

resources on www.engvid.com, so I highly recommend you check it out. You can also

subscribe to my channel. There, you will find many other videos on different

topics related to English, like pronunciation, grammar, writing, and

many more. You can also check out my website at www.teacheremma.com. So,

thank you so much for watching; and until next time, take care.