promise

A promise is a personal commitment to do something. Other words similar to "promise" are pledge, oath, and vow. A promise should be taken very seriously by everyone involved.

• Oliver promised to help his brother move to a new apartment this weekend.
• He promises he will be there this weekend.
• He promised he would be there this weekend.
• He promises to be there this weekend with his truck.
• Sarah promised her boss that she would come to work early on Saturday.
• She promised she would be there early.
• She intends on keeping her promise.
• She doesn’t want to break her promise.

The verbs "keep" and "break" are commonly used with the word "promise." To keep a promise is to honor it. To break a promise is to decide on an action that makes the promise worthless. Notice the use of the possessive adjective before the word "promise" in each of these examples:

• I swear I will keep my promise.
• Tim always keeps his promise.
• Will you keep your promise?
• Gina has broken her promise.
• It’s hard to trust Todd because he always breaks his promise.
• Why did you break your promise?
• Don’t break your promise!

When you promise another person something, there are certain ways to do it:

• I made a promise to my wife that I would fix the sink. (make a promise)
• I promised her that I would take care of it.
• She’s going to hold me to my promise. (hold one to a promise = make sure the promise is acted upon)
• I promised not to let her down.
• She has my promise.

There are many other ways in which you will hear the word "promise" in every day English:

• He’s full of empty promises. (He breaks his promises.)
• He went back on his promise. (He broke his promise.)
• During the wedding ceremony, the couple promised to love, honor, and obey each other. (They will try to keep their promise to each other.)
• He promises the stars and the moon. (He makes promises, but doesn’t always keep them.)
• She failed to live up to her promise. (She broke her promise.)
• A promise is a promise. (You must keep your promise.)
• Promises, promises! (This is an expression that means that a promise is not worth very much.)

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January 24, 2020