Archive for May, 2011

Remind and remember

May 25th, 2011 in Words

Remind can be followed by an object + infinitive.

Please remind me to take my coat. (NOT Please remind me of taking my coat.)
She reminded me to go to the bank.

Remind can also be followed by a that-clause.

I reminded him that he hadn’t paid for the drinks.

Sometimes the same idea can be expressed with remind …about.

She reminded me about my dental appointment. (= She reminded me that I had to go to the dentist.)

Remind …of

We use remind…of to say that something makes us remember the past.

She reminds me of a girl I had been in love with.
The smell of hay always reminds me of the years I spent at my grandfather’s house. (NOT The smell of hay always reminds me the years …)

Remind and remember

These verbs have somewhat different meanings. To remind somebody is to make somebody remember.

Remind me to pay the telephone bill. (NOT Remember me to pay the telephone bill.)
Just then I remembered that I hadn’t paid the telephone bill. (NOT Just then I reminded that I hadn’t paid the telephone bill.)

The rains always remind me of my ancestral home in Bangalore. (The rains always remember me of my ancestral home.)
The rains make me remember my ancestral home in Bangalore. (NOT The rains make me remind my ancestral home.)