Hi, grammar girl, my name is Christine, and I'd like to know the difference between the

words insure and insure as in I-N-S-U-R-E and E-N-S-U-R-E.

In writing, I often find myself ecstasy, so I can replace the word insure with make certain

and not feel like I've gotten it wrong.

Thanks.

Guest writer Charles Carson answers, and now Charles writes,

the verbs insure with an I and insure with an E,

derive from the Latin word securus, meaning safe or secure, which itself derives from S-E,

meaning without, and caru, meaning care.

Literally, without cares or worries.

Also, derived from securus are the English words sure, assure, secure, and security.

On its path from Latin through French and into English, securus became simplified and took on a variety of prefixes,

thus leading to the confusingly similar English verbs assure, ensure, and insure.

The verbs assure, ensure, and insure all have the general meaning to make sure,

and even though some argue that they're interchangeable, many maintain that their usage is dependent on context.

Assure with an A is something you do to a person, a group of people, or an animal to remove doubt or anxiety.

As in, squiggly assured, Ardvark, that he come to the party early.

You can remember that a sure can only be used with things that are alive,

and both assure and alive start with A.

Only things that are alive can feel doubt or anxiety, so only they can be assured.

Ensure with an E is something you do to guarantee an event or condition.

As in, to ensure there'd be enough food, Ardvark ordered twice as much food as last year.

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