Regardless vs. Irregardless; Sneaked vs. Snuck; Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure
Regardless vs. Irregardless
Some words in the English language are so overused that we don’t notice that they are incorrect or don’t even exist. A perfect example is irregardless. There is no such word as irregardless because regardless already means without regard. The —ir prefix is redundant.
Sneaked vs. Snuck
Sometimes, two forms of a word may be correct. For example, both sneaked and snuck may be used as the past and perfect tenses for sneak.
Example: She snuck up on him. OR She sneaked up on him.
Example: She has snuck up on him twice while he was napping. OR She has sneaked up on him twice while he was napping.
Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure
These three words can be confusing.
Assure = to promise or say with confidence
Example: Let me assure you that I will be at the meeting.
Ensure = to make sure something will/won’t happen
Example: To ensure my family’s safety, I have installed an alarm.
Insure = to issue an insurance policy
Example: I will insure my home with an additional fire policy.
Quiz
1. She sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night.
2. I ensure you that I have been honest about the money I spent.
3. I will ensure my car as required by law.
Answers
1. She sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night. (Correct OR snuck)
2. I assure you that I have been honest about the money I spent.
3. I will insure my car as required by law.
Posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
23 Responses to “Regardless vs. Irregardless; Sneaked vs. Snuck; Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure”
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I just want to say thank you! So many people use words like “irregardless” all the time. My favorite of all time is “conversate.” I cringe when I hear someone say that!
I’ve never heard anyone say “conversate.” Perhaps the word hasn’t migrated to California yet.
what about the word ASK vs ax? whats going on with this? even a newsreporter in upstate NY says ax instead of ask. does it have something to do with a deformity of the tongue? i dont think so; i have repeated each one to myself over & over and all that is different is in axe the sss or hissing sound is not heard.
It seems that “ax,” as a substitute for “ask,” is sneaking into mainstream conversation. I cringe whenever I hear it.
Burt-day instead of birthday makes me cringe! I just found your web page…I love it…thank you!
That would make me cringe too. I’m glad you are enjoying GrammarBook.com. Thanks for writing.
Lately, I’ve been hearing some people use this mysterious word, “funna”, as in, “I’m funna go to my house”. It should be, “I’m going to go to my house”, not “funna go”.
I have never heard anyone say “funna” in place of “going to go.” Are we Californians not always first when it comes to language alterations after all?
Years back a car commercial on TV substituted “comforble” for “comfortable”. Seemed to be done to make the sentence flow. I wonder how many people even noticed.
Just found “irregardless” in my 1970 Am Heritage Dictionary. Dos that make it an actual word? Is described as a double negative and improper. But is it a word?
I believe that the commercial’s use of “comforble” was just a sloppy way of saying “comfortable.” I have never seen “comforble” used in written English and do not recall seeing the commercial you’re referring to.
Unfortunately, in spite of the double negative, “irregardless” is recognized as a word in some dictionaries, although it is non-standard English. The definition is the same as regardless, which is the proper word.
I believe “funna” might be short, or slang for “fixin’ to”, which is a term I used to hear a lot when I lived in Dallas….a southern term?
The slang dictionaries define this term as a cross between “fixin’ to” and “gonna” (going to). The word is not listed in the traditional English dictionaries.
Thought this discussion was very interesting. Wasn’t sure about snuck and sneaked. I agree that irregardless is not a proper word, however, there is one way some dictionaries say it is correct. The only way you could use I would be as a double negative (although incorrect still). Then it would be “with regard.” though no one uses it that way.
The dictionaries that I have seen identify irregardless as nonstandard English for regardless.
Ever since former U.S. President George W. Bush mispronounced ‘nuclear’ as ‘new-cue-luhr’, I have heard it increasingly mispronounced as such in the news media. Precedent set by a President does not make it proper English!
Former President George W. Bush may have sensitized your ears to that pronunciation but he isn’t the first to use it. My old 1973 Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary shows the nyu-kye-ler pronunciation but indicates that it is “nonstandard.” Some of us may not like it, but modern dictionaries, such as Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary lists two acceptable pronunciations of the word: ‘nu-kle-er OR ‘nyu-kye-ler and The American Heritage Dictionary lists noo-klee-er, nyoo- or, by metathesis, -kyuh-ler [metathesis meaning "transposition within a word of letters, sounds, or syllables"]. (By the way, when referring to a president in the generic sense, as in your second sentence, it does not need to be capitalized.)
Why are people putting themselves first in their sentences?
For example, “Myself and Mary went to the movies”. Even people I expect to know rules of grammar do it. I was taught to place my link last in a sentence, ‘Mary and I went…’.
It’s as though they know that ‘Me and Mary…’ is unacceptable, but ‘Myself and Mary…’ is OK. Am I just being picky?
I do not believe you are being picky. You are just more conscious of proper grammar than some people. There is no formal rule regarding putting I or me last when referring to yourself and others. It is a matter of courtesy. “Mary and I went to the movies” is correct rather than “Myself and Mary” or “Me and Mary” because Mary and I are the subjects of the sentence. The subject form of the pronoun is I. Myself is used only when it refers back to another word in the sentence.
Many people, especially in formal or corporate situations, think that it’s okay (and in fact, super formal and fancy) to replace the word “I” or “me” with the word “myself” whenever they want to. For example, they think it’s okay to say “Please submit the financial report to either Sally or myself.” The irony is that they are using the word “myself” to sound sophisticated, when in fact it only makes them sound uneducated.
You’re right, it is not grammatically correct to use the reflexive pronoun myself unless it refers back to another word in the sentence. An example of correct usage would be: I worked myself to the bone.
It’s not “refers back;” “re” means back so the word “back” is redundant, just like the word “tooth” in tooth dentist or “woman” in widow woman is redundant. LEAVE OFF THE WORD “BACK”. JUST SAY “IT REFERS TO ANOTHER WORD.”
In this case, the word refer means “to direct attention usually by clear and specific mention.” Since it is not explicit that attention is directed forward or back, I felt it made the point more clearly to say “refers back” since the pronoun myself must come after the related word in the sentence.
Thank you on the clarification of sneaked and snuck. I recall being taught snuck but have recently seen “sneaked” in novels and it had me confused for sure. As for other grammar mishaps, I also notice when people THINK they are catching themselves and sounding sophisticated when they say “It was a really fun time for Billy and me….I mean Billy and I.” Or just “The present was for Amy and I.” People think that “I” is always right when it’s not the case. I hear this mistake EVERYWHERE. Drives me nuts. And like another responder said… the irony is the person is all proud and confident that they are speaking correctly.