Word of the Day: 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.)
Essential English Dictionary
Visit the Popular English Words Beginning with P page to see the list of all words starting with letter P. For seeing the HiCafe dictionary, visit the Popular English Words with Meaning page.
