Week 2
Common errors in legal English – grammar
Assure – ensure – insure
Assure: to remove doubt or to give confidence to someone
• It’s often used when you want to comfort someone or make them feel confident.
o Ex: “I assure you that everything will be fine.”
Ensure: to make certain that something will happen or be the case.
• It's used when you're taking action to guarantee a particular outcome. Example:
o Ex: “Please ensure that the door is locked before you leave."
Insure: to protect against risk, usually through financial means, such as an insurance policy.
• Usage: It's typically used in the context of financial protection against loss or damage.
o Ex: "I need to insure my car against theft and accidents."
Exercise:
To-infinitive or ing-form
The to-infinitive form is used after certain verbs, adjectives, and nouns.
After certain verbs:
• Decide: “I decided to leave early.”
• Plan: “She plans to study abroad.”
• Want: “He wants to be a doctor.”
• Agree: “They agreed to help us.”
• Promise: “She promised to call me.”
After adjectives: to express a reason or purpose
• Happy: “I’m happy to see you.”
• Difficult: “It’s difficult to understand.”
• Eager: “She’s eager to learn.”
The to-infinitive can express the purpose of an action:
• I went to the store to buy some milk.
• She studied hard to pass the exam.
After certain nouns: often indicating a future action or possibility
• Decision: “The decision to move was difficult.”
• Ability: “His ability to speak multiple languages is impressive.”
Pagina 1
,The -ing form is used in different contexts, often acting as a noun or following certain verbs and
prepositions.
As the subject or object of a sentence:
• Subject: “Swimming is good exercise.”
• Object: “She enjoys reading.”
After certain verbs:
• Enjoy: “I enjoy reading.”
• Avoid: “She avoids talking to strangers.”
• Consider: “They are considering moving to a new city.”
• Practice: “He practices playing the guitar every day.”
After prepositions:
• She is good at swimming.
• They talked about going on vacation.
• He’s interested in learning French.
After phrasal verbs:
• They gave up smoking.
• He looks forward to meeting you.
Verbs that can be followed by either form (with a change in meaning)
• Remember:
o remember locking the door. (I have a memory of this action in the past.)
o Remember to lock the door. (A reminder for the future.)
• Stop:
o She stopped smoking. (She quit the habit of smoking.)
o She stopped to smoke. (She paused an activity in order to smoke.
Exercise:
Pagina 2
,Remember – remind – recall
Remember: to bring something back to mind or retain something in memory.
• You use "remember" when you actively bring a memory or piece of information to mind
without external prompting.
o Ex: "I remember meeting her at the party last year."
Remind: to cause someone else to remember something.
• "Remind" is used when you prompt or help someone else recall something. It often in-
volves one person helping another to remember.
o Ex: "Can you remind me to call the doctor tomorrow?"
Recall: to retrieve information from memory; to bring a specific detail or event back to con-
sciousness.
• "Recall" is similar to "remember," but it's often used in more formal contexts or when the
act of remembering is more deliberate or effortful.
o Ex: "I can't recall his name right now."
Exercise:
As – like
The words "as" and "like" are often used in English to make comparisons, but they have different
functions and are used in distinct ways.
“As” is typically used to indicate the role or function of someone or something. It can also be
used to compare actions, stating that something is done in the same way.
Examples:
• Role/Function: "He works as a teacher."
o (He is a teacher by profession.)
• Comparison of Actions: "She sings as her mother did."
o (She sings in the same way her mother did.)
Grammar:
• When "as" is used to compare actions, it is often followed by a clause
o (a subject and verb).
• "As" can also be used in similes, but it is often part of a fixed expression like "as... as"
o (e.g., "as brave as a lion").
Pagina 3
, “Like” is used to show similarity or resemblance between two things. It compares nouns or pro-
nouns, suggesting that one thing is similar to another.
Examples:
• Similarity: "She sings like her mother."
o (Her singing is similar to her mother's singing.)
• Comparison: "This tastes like chicken."
o (The taste is similar to chicken.)
Grammar:
• "Like" is usually followed by a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.
• Unlike "as," "like" is not typically followed by a clause
o (though casual speech often bends this rule, leading to "like" being used in place
of "as" or "as if").
Exercise:
Especially or specially
Especially: Used to single out something as more important or significant than other things. It
emphasizes the degree to which something applies or stands out in comparison to others.
• Ex: love all fruits, especially mangoes."
o Here, "especially" emphasizes that mangoes are a standout favourite among all
fruits.
Specially: Meaning: Refers to something done for a particular purpose or in a special manner.
It emphasizes something being unique, specific, or customized for a particular reason or per-
son.
• Ex: "The cake was specially made for her birthday."
o In this case, "specially" indicates that the cake was made with a specific purpose
in mind: her birthday.
Exercise:
Nouns and verbs ending in -ice
This is the standard spelling for the noun form in both American and British English. In American
English this form is also used as the verb form. In British English the verb form is spelled with
-ise.
Exercise:
Pagina 4
Common errors in legal English – grammar
Assure – ensure – insure
Assure: to remove doubt or to give confidence to someone
• It’s often used when you want to comfort someone or make them feel confident.
o Ex: “I assure you that everything will be fine.”
Ensure: to make certain that something will happen or be the case.
• It's used when you're taking action to guarantee a particular outcome. Example:
o Ex: “Please ensure that the door is locked before you leave."
Insure: to protect against risk, usually through financial means, such as an insurance policy.
• Usage: It's typically used in the context of financial protection against loss or damage.
o Ex: "I need to insure my car against theft and accidents."
Exercise:
To-infinitive or ing-form
The to-infinitive form is used after certain verbs, adjectives, and nouns.
After certain verbs:
• Decide: “I decided to leave early.”
• Plan: “She plans to study abroad.”
• Want: “He wants to be a doctor.”
• Agree: “They agreed to help us.”
• Promise: “She promised to call me.”
After adjectives: to express a reason or purpose
• Happy: “I’m happy to see you.”
• Difficult: “It’s difficult to understand.”
• Eager: “She’s eager to learn.”
The to-infinitive can express the purpose of an action:
• I went to the store to buy some milk.
• She studied hard to pass the exam.
After certain nouns: often indicating a future action or possibility
• Decision: “The decision to move was difficult.”
• Ability: “His ability to speak multiple languages is impressive.”
Pagina 1
,The -ing form is used in different contexts, often acting as a noun or following certain verbs and
prepositions.
As the subject or object of a sentence:
• Subject: “Swimming is good exercise.”
• Object: “She enjoys reading.”
After certain verbs:
• Enjoy: “I enjoy reading.”
• Avoid: “She avoids talking to strangers.”
• Consider: “They are considering moving to a new city.”
• Practice: “He practices playing the guitar every day.”
After prepositions:
• She is good at swimming.
• They talked about going on vacation.
• He’s interested in learning French.
After phrasal verbs:
• They gave up smoking.
• He looks forward to meeting you.
Verbs that can be followed by either form (with a change in meaning)
• Remember:
o remember locking the door. (I have a memory of this action in the past.)
o Remember to lock the door. (A reminder for the future.)
• Stop:
o She stopped smoking. (She quit the habit of smoking.)
o She stopped to smoke. (She paused an activity in order to smoke.
Exercise:
Pagina 2
,Remember – remind – recall
Remember: to bring something back to mind or retain something in memory.
• You use "remember" when you actively bring a memory or piece of information to mind
without external prompting.
o Ex: "I remember meeting her at the party last year."
Remind: to cause someone else to remember something.
• "Remind" is used when you prompt or help someone else recall something. It often in-
volves one person helping another to remember.
o Ex: "Can you remind me to call the doctor tomorrow?"
Recall: to retrieve information from memory; to bring a specific detail or event back to con-
sciousness.
• "Recall" is similar to "remember," but it's often used in more formal contexts or when the
act of remembering is more deliberate or effortful.
o Ex: "I can't recall his name right now."
Exercise:
As – like
The words "as" and "like" are often used in English to make comparisons, but they have different
functions and are used in distinct ways.
“As” is typically used to indicate the role or function of someone or something. It can also be
used to compare actions, stating that something is done in the same way.
Examples:
• Role/Function: "He works as a teacher."
o (He is a teacher by profession.)
• Comparison of Actions: "She sings as her mother did."
o (She sings in the same way her mother did.)
Grammar:
• When "as" is used to compare actions, it is often followed by a clause
o (a subject and verb).
• "As" can also be used in similes, but it is often part of a fixed expression like "as... as"
o (e.g., "as brave as a lion").
Pagina 3
, “Like” is used to show similarity or resemblance between two things. It compares nouns or pro-
nouns, suggesting that one thing is similar to another.
Examples:
• Similarity: "She sings like her mother."
o (Her singing is similar to her mother's singing.)
• Comparison: "This tastes like chicken."
o (The taste is similar to chicken.)
Grammar:
• "Like" is usually followed by a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.
• Unlike "as," "like" is not typically followed by a clause
o (though casual speech often bends this rule, leading to "like" being used in place
of "as" or "as if").
Exercise:
Especially or specially
Especially: Used to single out something as more important or significant than other things. It
emphasizes the degree to which something applies or stands out in comparison to others.
• Ex: love all fruits, especially mangoes."
o Here, "especially" emphasizes that mangoes are a standout favourite among all
fruits.
Specially: Meaning: Refers to something done for a particular purpose or in a special manner.
It emphasizes something being unique, specific, or customized for a particular reason or per-
son.
• Ex: "The cake was specially made for her birthday."
o In this case, "specially" indicates that the cake was made with a specific purpose
in mind: her birthday.
Exercise:
Nouns and verbs ending in -ice
This is the standard spelling for the noun form in both American and British English. In American
English this form is also used as the verb form. In British English the verb form is spelled with
-ise.
Exercise:
Pagina 4
