Remember vs Remind in Professional English: A Distinction That Matters More Than You Think
- The English Coach
- Jun 15, 2023
- 3 min read
In a status update, you write: "Please remember the team about the deadline." Your stakeholder reads it and pauses. Something feels slightly off, but they can't quite say what.
That pause is the moment your language signals that English is not your first language. You see, "remember" and "remind" are not interchangeable and native speakers feel the difference immediately even when they can't explain it.
The remember vs remind distinction in professional English comes up more often than most professionals realise: in emails, meeting requests, status updates, and spoken conversations where precision signals seniority.
Understanding remember vs remind in professional English is one of those precision distinctions that separates proficient English from authoritative English, especially in written communications where senior stakeholders read quickly and judge instantly.
Let's dive in!
1️⃣ Remember:
“Remember” refers to the action of recalling or retaining information in your mind.
It is an individual's ability to retrieve something from memory.
For instance, if you say, “Please remember to submit your reports by Friday,” you are reminding someone to keep the task in their memory and ensure they don't forget it.
As a project manager, it's crucial to remind team members of important deadlines, deliverables, or key instructions, enabling them to stay on track.
2️⃣ Remind:
On the other hand, “remind” is used when you want someone else to remember something.
It implies bringing a particular fact or task to another person's attention. For instance, you might say, “Could you please remind the team about our meeting tomorrow?”
In this case, you're asking someone to assist you in ensuring that everyone is aware of the upcoming meeting.
As a project manager, reminding team members of crucial information can help maintain clarity and prevent oversights.
3️⃣ Think of:
“Think of” refers to the act of considering or having a thought or idea about something. It involves mentally reflecting on a subject.
For example, you might say, “Can you think of any potential risks in this project?”
In this context, you're asking someone to use their critical thinking skills to come up with potential risks or issues.
As a project manager, encouraging your team members to think of various perspectives and possibilities can foster innovation and improve problem-solving capabilities.
By understanding these distinctions, you can communicate more precisely and ensure that your message is accurately conveyed.
Remember vs Remind in Professional English: A Distinction That Matters
In project management specifically, this distinction matters in two high-stakes situations.
First, in written communications (status updates, meeting requests, follow-up emails) where the wrong word signals a language gap to senior stakeholders who read quickly and judge instantly. Second, in spoken meetings, where asking a colleague to "remember you" about something instead of "remind you" creates a split-second of confusion that interrupts the flow of the conversation and draws attention to your language rather than your message.
Here are a few additional tips to enhance your language skills as a non-native English-speaking project manager:
Rule 1 — The ownership test
Ask yourself: who needs to do the remembering?
If it's you — use remember.
If it's someone else — use remind.
"I need to remember to send the report" versus "Can you remind me to send the report?"
The ownership test works every time.
Rule 2 — The direction test
Remember works inward — it's about your own memory.
Remind works outward — it's directed at someone else.
You can remind a colleague but you cannot remember a colleague.
If the verb is directed at another person, it's always remind.
Rule 3 — Think of for ideas, not tasks
Think of is not interchangeable with either remember or remind.
It's for generating ideas or recalling something creatively, not for tasks or deadlines.
"Can you think of a better approach?" not "Can you think of the deadline?"
Use remind for deadlines. Always.
The remember vs remind distinction is small, but in professional English, small distinctions are precisely what separates someone who sounds proficient from someone who sounds authoritative.
Native speakers notice these things, not consciously, not unkindly, but automatically. Getting them right removes one more moment of friction from your communication. It becomes a distinction that matters, because it is about removing the split-second of friction that draws attention to your language rather than your message.
If you want more of this kind of precision (the language distinctions that change how you're perceived in professional settings) the free guide below covers five communication strategies built specifically for non-native English-speaking professionals.
Comments