Remember vs Remind
There are many pairs of verbs in English language that have similar meanings confusing those who are non-natives trying to master the nuances. One such pair is ‘remember and remind’ that is very close in meaning. While remember means to keep information in one’s mind or in his memory, remind is a verb that helps one in remembering something or someone. This is a subtle difference between two verbs that will be talked about in this article.
Remember
Remember is the opposite of forget, and hence when you remember, you recall that person, place or thing. In written language, remember is mostly used with when, where, how, why, and so on. If I am asking a child to remember to lock the door from inside when I leave, I am literally asking him to keep in his memory to lock the door and not forget about it.
If you cannot remember where you put the keys of the bike, it means you have forgotten where you kept them. When one is recalling the events of the past, he is remembering these events from his memory. When you are with your wife at a place where you have been together before too, you ask her to remember the old times. An adult talking about past events in his life when he was a small kid is actually remembering the old times as he is recalling from his memories.
Remind
When a person remembers to do his duties on time, there is no need to remind him. This sentence is enough to tell you that to remind is to help a person remember what is expected of him.
The verb is also used when you remember something upon seeing someone or something. For example, you are reminded of a building in your own when you see another one that is similar in another country. You remind your son to do his school homework, but you also ask your wife to remind you to telephone your ailing mother in law. It is the job of a secretary to remind her boss about all his engagements of the day. People make use of alarm clocks to remind them to get up on time daily while they feed reminders in mobile phones to remember important appointments and tasks.
What is the difference between Remember and Remind?
• Remember is to recall from memory and it is the opposite of forget. However, when you make someone else remember about something, you are reminding him to do something.
• You do not need to remind when a person remembers to complete the job assigned to him on time
• People keep a list of items to purchase at a grocery store that serves as a reminder and they are able to remember to buy what they need
• You remember things and places when reminded by others
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