英语：单词assure，ensure，insure及assurance的区别

英语单词assure，ensure，insure及assurance都有“保证”的意思，但用法不同，几个单词的区别如下文所述：

1, Assure

如果我们要让某人相信某事是真实的或者将要发生的，我们会说“我向你保证…”, 这种情形在英语中通常用I can assure you或者类似let me assure you的结构来表达:

• She hastened to assure me that the report contained no critical comment on my department’s performance.
• Let me assure you / I can assure you that the children will be totally safe on this adventure holiday. No risks of any kind will be taken.

2，Ensure

单词ensure和assure的区别非常微妙，如果我们ensure某事发生，就意味着我们“确信”、“确保”此事会发生。另外，在口语中我们经常用make sure来代替ensure:

• Ensure / Make sure that your working hours as well as your rate of pay are written into your contract.
• I tried to ensure that everybody wore their life jackets the whole time that we were on the sailing boats, but not everybody carried out my instruction.

在美语中，ensure有时会拼写成insure:

• I shall try to insure that you have a nice time while you are here.

3, 但是，Insure还有“保险”意思，通过保险或其它财产的手段来担保某事，一般用在保险方面。

• We can insure your car against fire, theft and third party damage for as little as £30 per month.~
• Make sure you remember to insure the digital camera and the mobile phones. They’re not included under the house contents insurance.

4, Assurance

Assurance和assure意思相同，只不过是名词。

• He sought an assurance from me that i’d always be available on Saturdays to undertake the work.
• I was unable to give her any assurance that Beth would arrive in time for the family re-union.

另外，在英式英语中，通常用life assurance可以代替life insurance，这两种说法都没有问题：