Definition of

Make sure

Make sureThe term certiorar derives from cerciorar , a verb that in turn has its origin in the Latin word certiorare . Making sure is confirming or guaranteeing something . For example: “The government, before making the announcement, intends to make sure that the opposition will not veto the project,” “The police chief toured the hotel to make sure the building was safe,” “Teachers must make sure What happens before making a decision ?

Suppose that a man named Miguel borrows money from his brother Cristian , with the promise that he will return it the following month. Before giving him the money, Cristian tries to make sure that his brother really has the possibility of paying the debt within the expected time frame . For this, it asks you a series of questions about your employment situation, your income, etc. Once he is sure that it is feasible for his brother to return the money within the established deadlines, Cristian finalizes the loan.

When hiring an employee, on the other hand, an employer tries to make sure he or she chooses the right candidate for the job . With this objective, it calls three applicants who have been preselected, conducts an interview with each one and then takes a test for them to demonstrate their skills. Once the employer has decided on one of the candidates, he contacts the people his potential employee mentioned as references on his resume. All of these actions help you make sure that this applicant is the right one to join your company.

In everyday speech, the term make sure is used quite frequently, which is why it is not exclusive to the formal or written sphere. However, in informal conversations one of its synonyms may be more common, such as "verify" or "make sure." As in any other case, the choice of the word always depends on several factors: beyond cultural and academic issues, there are personal preferences and the influence of the workplace (the jargon of each profession modifies the way an individual speaks independently. of his background).

Make sureWhen conjugating a verb and placing it in a sentence, it is not enough to know its alterations throughout the verb tense tables, but there are other aspects to take into account, both its morphology and the rules it imposes on us to prepare a clear and correct message from a grammatical point of view.

First of all, it is necessary to highlight that the verb make sure is pronominal, that is, to construct its conjugation we must add an unstressed reflexive pronoun at the end, taking into account who carries out the action. In other words, we have the obligation to make it agree both in person and in number with the subject of the sentence; for example: "(I) must make sure", "(you) must make sure", "(they) should have made sure".

Although the original verb in its pure state is “ascertain,” it is used much more frequently in its reflexive form. In addition to what was expressed in the previous paragraph, it is always possible to keep the unstressed reflexive pronoun separate from the verb: "Wait here while I make sure that there is no one in the garden."

One of the most common errors when using this and other verbs occurs when it comes time to use prepositions . In this particular case, it is necessary to find the following construction: "make sure that." If we omit the preposition from the message it is affected in a subtle but not slight way; To avoid this error we must replace with "this" the part of the sentence that begins with the word that : "make sure this " is correct; "make sure of this" is incorrect.