ASsure, ENsure, INsure

Alright, it’s time for a grammar lesson. I’ve seen these words misused a lot lately and I feel a need to make sure my friends know how to properly use the three words. While they have the same general idea of guaranteeing that something will be done, assure, ensure, and insure are not interchangeable.

 

This line was in an email I received earlier today at work: “Make sure you get our CE and BIO folks down quickly to evaluate and assure all materials are properly handled.” It really irks me when highly educated people, in this case a colonel, make simple grammar mistakes. Typos and carelessness that occurs from going too fast is one thing and easily overlooked but things like using the wrong word make you look dumb.

 

Insure has to do with money and guarantees some financial retribution if things go wrong. To insure is to “secure from harm of loss.” The ones doing the insuring are almost always insurance companies. State Farm insures the driver so that he woudn’t be liable for the whole cost of an accident. Doctors, likewise, are insured by insurance companies to protect them from being financially liable if the doctor screws up a procedure or gets sued by a patient.

 

Assure has to do with one’s feelings. To assure is to “put someone’s mind at rest.” A assures B that he will show up at an expected time. Being assures of something should remove doubt or anxiety and make someone feel better about a particular event. The object of the verb assure must something alive that has feelings.

 

Ensure is merely a guarantee that something will be done. To ensure is to “make certain of something.” It’s sort of a promise and has no implication of financial redress. If I host a party, I will ensure that there is an adequate amount of food and drink. (Ensure is the word that should have been used instead of assure in the quote in the second paragraph.)