VOA慢速英语2021 Remind or Remember?

Remind or Remember?

This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Joelson. He says:

Question:

Dear VOA, I am an English learner from Brazil. I want to know the difference between "remind" and "remember." Thank you very much.

Answer:

Hi Joelson, that is an excellent question.

Verb pairs like borrow/lend, come/go, and remind/remember can be tricky¹ for English learners.

The verbs "remind" and "remember" both involve recalling something. But there is a clear difference in meaning. And they have different sentence structures.

Remember

"Remember" means to keep a person or thing in your mind or to bring a person or thing back to your mind. Think of "remember" as the opposite of "forget." Listen to some examples:

I just remembered I left the water on.

Remember to bring a lock to store your belongings².

In the first example, notice that "remember" is followed by a clause³. In the second, it is followed by an infinitive⁴, also known as to + verb. "Remember" can also be followed by a noun that ends in -ing, as in "I remember leaving the water on."

Remind

Now, let's talk about "remind."

"Remind" means to cause someone else to remember something. In other words, a person can make sure someone else does not forget something. Listen to an example:

Can you remind him to buy more cat food? We ran out.

When we use "remind" this way, the verb is followed by an object. In this case, the object is "him."

Another way we use "remind" is to say that a similarity causes us to think of someone or something. Listen to an example:

That actor reminds me so much of my brother. They have the same eyes and laugh.

When we use "remind" this way, we always include the word "of."

And that's Ask a Teacher for this week.

Words in This Story

pair - n. in a group of two people or things

lock - n. a device that keeps something (such as a door, window, or box) from being opened and that is usually opened by using a key

clause - n. a part of a sentence with its own subject and verb

object - n. noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that receives the action of a verb

1 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

2 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

3 clause   

n.（正式文件或法律文件的）条款，从句，分句

参考例句：

• The sentence consists of a main clause and a subordinate clause.这句中有一个主句和一个从句。
• What clause do you require in the contract?你要求在合同中订上什么条款？

4 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。