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re: I think we've had enough of which to use--insure/ensure--how about a
new direction?
This "legal" direction is good stuff and will make me stop and think in the
future--I've been probably overusing ensure. In fact, I've been bummed that
there is no word "ensurance," and consequently worried by what I thought was
overuse of assure where I work where we're so into quality assurance. (Given
that common phrase, use of the phrase "ensure quality" must be by definition
inappropriate.) While of course we have to use assurance, I used to think
it less macho or something to promise (assure) rather than just say we'll
make it happen (ensure), but now I'm not so sure. Another source where
these distinctions are nicely described is http://www.webgrammar.com/grammar.html
Of course, then, there appears to be "surety," which must be the name for
the business of assuring or ensuring but likely not insuring. Regarding
this, see http://www.sandia.gov/Surety/SureDef.htm