Assurance vs Insurance

In my IELTS class last Saturday, one of my students asked about the use of ''assurance.''

There was confusion with ''insurance.''

Well, assurance signifies certainty and positively telling someone in order to eliminate any doubts.

Ex. You have my assurance the report will be delivered on time. 

Insurance, of course, is protecting someone or something against a possible happening or event.

Ex: We bought insurance against floods again this year.

*** If you are in São Paulo and need English lessons, or Elite English Services including translations (Spanish/French/Portuguese to English), please contact Professor Winn by sending an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation. Buy your English-language texts today!

Ending a Sentence with ''though''

Some of my best blog ideas come from my students.

This week in a private class a student asked about using ''though'' at the end of a sentence.

Ex: I don't like chocolate ice cream, though.

In this case, ''though'' is an adverb to mean ''however'' or ''nevertheless.''

Also notice the use of the comma (,) to separate it from the rest of the sentence.

*** If you are in São Paulo and need English lessons, or Elite English Services including translations (Spanish/French/Portuguese to English), please contact Professor Winn by sending an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation. Buy your English-language texts today!

Discover the history of English sayings

Have you come across a phrase or saying in English and wondered about its origin?

The Phrase Finder website is an excellent source to discover how a particular phrase started.

The phrases ''start from scratch'' and ''dressed to the nines'' recently caught my interest.

If one starts from scratch, one starts from the beginning.  Its storied history and its variations are explained here.

Now, ''dressed to the nines'' is more complicated since a ''search for the link between 'nines' and dress sense has unearthed no convincing candidates,'' according to the site.

Evidently, the number nine is significant as a superlative in classical mythology.

*** If you are in São Paulo and need English lessons, or Elite English Services including translations (Spanish/French/Portuguese to English), please contact Professor Winn by sending an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation. Buy your English-language texts today!