Causatives: REMIND means cause to REMEMBER

Many languages have only a single word that covers the meanings of remember and remind so speakers of these languages often have trouble knowing when to use each in English and produce errors like the following:

• INCORRECT: Remember me to buy some bread on the way home.
• CORRECT: Remind me to buy some bread on the way home.

The relationship between these two verbs is the same as that between the verbs kill and die. Just as the verb kill means cause to die, the verb remind means cause to remember. Here are some examples:

• That smell reminds me of our holiday in Tuscany.
  [The smell caused me to remember the holiday]
• I had forgotten about the bread until Jill reminded me.
  [Jill caused me to remember the bread]

• I remember it snowed more when I was a kid.
  [No mention of something causing the memory to be recalled]

ADVANCED:

You can also specify a cause by using the verb make, so the following sentences mean the same thing:

• I will make her remember.
• I will remind her.

The word remind is the causative variant of remember, combining remember and the causal meaning of make into a single word. As already noted, many other languages use the same word for remember and its causative variant. Likewise, there are many English verbs whose causative variant has the same form as its non-causative variant. A couple of examples:

• I will make the vase break.
• I will break the vase.

• I will make the music stop.
• I will stop the music.