Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Memory tricks will help you remember the difference. Rick grammar The biggest confusion in the "ensure" vs. "assure" debate relates to the implied use of "yourself." It is grammatically acceptable to write the following sentence. "Assure the dog is chained up." In this case, you are assuring an implied person ("yourself"). I believe we are doing a disservice to writers by not addressing this specific use just to simplify the rules. So long as the implied word "yourself" can be inserted immediately following the word "assure," the use is grammatically acceptable. This makes the two words, somewhat, interchangeable in many sentences. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=19566#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=19566#Comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:06:52 GMT Jerry grammar When should ytou use them versus they? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=19318#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=19318#Comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:28:31 GMT Gabriel grammar On my visits to Britain, I noticed the word "assurance" used precisely this way. I assure you that this usage is still quite current there. If you follow my last link, you'll find the following from the OED: "In the context of life insurance, a technical distinction is made between assurance and insurance. Assurance is used of policies under whose terms a payment is guaranteed, either after a fixed term or on the death of the insured person; insurance is the general term, and is used in particular of policies under whose terms a payment would be made only in certain circumstances (e.g. accident or death within a limited period)." http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=13644#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=13644#Comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:02:12 GMT Charles Carson grammar Gabriel, you are correct that some financial institutions use "assurance" in their names. However, the websites of the three you cite (American Fidelity Assurance, Plymouth Rock Assurance, and Casualty Assurance), do not use the word "assurance" to describe their policies -- they use "insurance." Perhaps, as the post you cite says, "Some old Insurance companies still retain 'Assurance' in their title, but for everyday use 'insurance' is used by the vast majority of people," or perhaps they're using "assurance" in their names to sound more established (like "shoppe"). That said, there is a type of insurance that is sometimes called assurance: policies that will definitely pay out (for example, on one's death), as opposed to policies that might pay out (if in an accident). But this distinction seems to be fading, if not already obsolete, especially in the United States. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=13640#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=13640#Comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:48:46 GMT Gabriel grammar GG, you were a bit hasty in generalizing your rule that "assurance" only applies to people or animals, while insurance is for financial contexts. Many companies that provide insurance have "assurance" in their names. So while insurance may exist provide assurance to people, the word "assurance" can be used to mean insurance, particularly in Britain. A quick search turns up examples like this: http://www.afadvantage.com/ http://www.prac.com/ http://www.casualtyassuranceinc.com/ This page offers some further insight: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/1399.html http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=13635#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx?commentid=13635#Comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:00:21 GMT Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:06:52 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/assure-ensure-insure.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us