Hello and welcome back to the English Language Clinic. This week I?ve been asked about two pairs of words, which sound similar to one another. Let?s start with ?specially? and ?especially?. It is very easy to mix these two up, especially when you are speaking. As in the last sentence, the word ?especially? should be used to communicate the fact that, in certain situations or for certain things or people, something is particularly true. For example, ?it can be cold in London, ?especially? in winter?, ?I like reading, ?especially? ghost stories? or ?driving at night can be quite dangerous, ?especially? if it?s raining?. The word ?particularly? could also be used in each of these sentences to mean the same.

The word ?specially?, on the other hand, should be used to describe the fact or opinion that something or someone has a special purpose. For example, ?his feet were so big that he had to have socks made ?specially? for them?, ?I baked this cake ?specially? for your birthday? or ?she learnt the art of origami ?specially? for you?.

The second pair of words is ?insurance? and ?assurance?. The word ?assurance? can be used in several ways but, in relation to ?life insurance?; ?assurance? is used to describe policies which guarantee a payment, either after a certain amount of time or the death of the policy holder. ?Insurance? is used either as a general term or to refer ?specially? to policies, which will only ?payout? under special conditions, such as an accident.

?Assurance? is also used to mean the same as ?promise? (noun) and ?assure? as ?promise? (verb).

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