ensurance or assurance

Hi !

Could you please explain the difference between “ensurance” and “assurance”?

I don’t know why we use “assurance”, not “insurance” in this sentence:

He gave me his personal ASSURANCE that his draft would be ready by Friday.

Thank you in advance.

The difference is that “ensurance” is so unusual that it is not in most English dictionaries. We never use it.

Hi Jamie,
I have two other questions about this:

  1. What about the difference between ‘assure’ and ‘ensure’?
  2. In AmE, ‘insure’ doesn’t just mean ‘to protect yourself against risk by regularly paying a special company that will provide a fixed amount of money if you are killed or injured or if your home or possessions are damaged, destroyed or stolen’, but it can also mean ‘to make something certain to happen’, right?
  3. ‘Insure’ and ‘ensure’ are pronounced identically, aren’t they? So what is the correct pronunciation of them in BrE and AmE?
    (Here is what I found in the Cambridge Dictionary:

And here is what I found in the Longman Dictionary:

Thus I’m so confused… +_+
Please shed some light on this.

Many thanks,
Nessie.

Could anybody please help me with this?

Many thanks,
Nessie.

ensurance is a form of the word ensure, but it is not commonly used that way. In fact, the word ensurance is not even in the dictionary.

The best we can tell through researching this, it’s a word that was utterly made up in the 1990’s by a web-based company called ensurance.com as a way to identify “electronic insurance” much the same way we use the word email to signify “electronic mail.”

Assurance is the correct word you are looking for when trying to use correct English grammer. Ensurance would not be the correct use of English grammer.

I hope this helps differentiate the two words for you.

‘Insurance’ is something providing protection against something.
‘Assurance’ is a certainty about something.

His personal assurance - he made a commitment to make the provision of the draft a certainty.

‘ensurance’ has already been commented upon.

assure - a promise that something will be certain.
ensure - Make certain that (something) shall occur or be the case.

I can’t speak for AmE, but that last part sounds like a description of ‘ensure’ to me.

[/quote]

Not quite, but the difference is subtle and it’s possible that you won’t be able to hear it.

‘Assurance’ may be the word Nessie is looking for. You forgot to point out that it depends on the context and she might also need to use ‘insurance’.

By the way, the word you are looking for is ‘grammar’.

“assurance” is something you may give: I can assure you that my dog bites!
“insurance” is something you may buy: I would like to buy insurance for my car.
“ensurance” is a web based insurance company: I just saved 15% on car insurance at ensurance.com today!

How people can mix these words up, I’ll never understand.

Choose wisely my friend.

That’s a very clear concise definition.
The exception is that ‘assurance’ can be bought in one context too.
One buys Contents insurance, Property insurance. Car insurance, Pet insurance, etc… one insures against certain events
However, traditionally one would buy ‘life assurance’, not ‘life insurance’ - because death is (still) a certainty. You cannot ‘insure’ against it taking place. You can only ‘assure’ certain conditions are met.
I notice that as the language evolves this boundary is not so well defined any more and companies now offer ‘life insurance’ too.

Really? I’d have thought they mix them up because the root words ‘insure’, ‘assure’ and ‘ensure’ (ensure - make certain of) have similar sounds and meanings. Perhaps a little more empathy would be useful.

Assure and Ensure :

Assure= I can make another person sure of.
Ensure = I can make myself sure of

Really a vast difference it makes.

SHIMEL

Can you ensure that you complete that form before you leave?
-This does not have the definition ‘make myself sure of’ as you suggest.

Can you assure me that this is the last time you will do that?

  • This does not have the definition ‘make another person sure of’ as you suggest.

Dear Beesnees,
I meant “ensure” (SELF making sure)
as you used " YOU ensure" = you make sure of YOURSELF.

and “assure” (one making another sure of something)
In your statement itself it is clear , "can YOU assure ME "= One make another person sure of.

In my statement, guess I should have put:
I ASSURE=
I ENSURE =
to make it so very specific.

Thanks.
SHIMEL

I see.
Thanks for the clarification.

It’s a reasonable rule of thumb, but there are exceptions where ‘assure’ can apply to oneself.