Ensure Vs Insure

The English language may not be a very difficult language to learn and pick up. However, there are certain words that tend to leave the best of us in a quandary. These words generally rhyme, have more often than not the same root word and even have similar meanings! It's not very hard when you have to use words like 'stares' and 'stairs', that is, words that sound the same but mean different things. However what is worse is when you are in a fix regarding words like ensure and insure. A single change of letter makes a world of difference! So given below is an explanation that will finally put all your doubts related to ensure and insure to rest and thus, drive away your English blues related to these words.

Ensure Vs Insure Vs Assure

Another very common doubt that people have is related to when to use ensure, insure and assure. All these words sound similar and thus, there is an increased tendency to get confused when using them. However, there is a marked difference between these three words. Given below is a detailed explanation about firstly, ensure vs insure - definition along with examples on when and how to use ensure, insure and assure.

Ensure: Ensuring is something you do to guarantee the occurrence of an event or condition. This is taken up as a warranty that something is going to happen for which you will double check.
Example: Edward ensured that there were enough chairs to accommodate two hundred people in the hall for the party.

Insure: Insure is the root word for insurance and hence, can be done to a person, place, or thing. However, you must understand that it is reserved for limiting financial liability. This financial liability is most commonly achieved by obtaining an insurance policy.
Example: Edward was wondering if his bike was insured or not.

Assure: To assure is something you do to a person, a group of people, or someone in doubt or anxiety. You give assurance to help a person become certain of something. Assurance can only be said when it is related to something that is alive. This is because assurance is used to drive away any kind of uncertainty or doubt that people may have about something.
Example: Edward assured Clifford that he'd come with him to work.

Correct Usage

After reading up on these three terms, there may still be some doubt in your mind. This is because there may be variations related to each of these words, like ensuring vs insuring. For example, ensure may be used as 'ensuring', as in, ensuring that everyone has eaten at a party. However, insure can also be used as 'insurance', which implies a written promise or reimbursement in the occurrence of a loss. Thus, the use of insurance is always related to monetary compensation. However, assurance means the same as its verb counterpart, assure. However, reassurance is one step further than assurance. It can be used for support and to instill confidence in a person when he is down and out, as in, 'I reassured him that everything will be alright.'

These are really interesting words that may land you in a very embarrassing situation if used wrongly! After all, they don't call it the very funny English language for nothing. However, if you are a student, a simple precautionary measure that you may want to take to not land up with editor's marks all over your write ups, is to not use any word unless you're absolutely sure of what it means!