2019-11-24 ‘Remember’, ‘remind’, ‘recollect’ and ‘recall’ – Learners’ Questions

This week’s question

What’s the difference between ‘remember’, ‘remind’, ‘recollect’ and ‘recall’? – Agustin

Answer this

Which of these words not only means remember, but also involves communicating the memory?

Language points

Remember
Remember means ‘have a memory about something’. It has many verb patterns: remember + object (noun), remember + question word / that clause, remember + -ing (remembering something done in the past), remember + full infinitive (remember to do something in the future).

• I remember this music from yesterday.
• I remembered that I had forgotten to lock the windows.       
• I remember cooking this for you last week.
• I must remember to go shopping for food later.

Remind
Remind means ‘make someone remember’. It also has a few verb patterns: remind + question word / that, remind + somebody + full infinitive, X reminds someone of Y (meaning it sparks a memory).

• The teacher reminded the class what was acceptable behaviour.
• I have an app that reminds me to pick up my laundry.
• That smell reminds me of the cake my grandma used to make.

Recall & recollect
Both recall and recollect can mean ‘remember’. Both can use: recall / recollect + that / question word, recall / recollect + -ing. However, recall can also mean ‘remember and communicate the memory’.

• I don’t recall what I did with my keys. Then I recollected that I had left them at work.
• Do you recall watching this movie before? Do you recollect sitting in the cinema?
• At his retirement party, the professor recalled some of the best moments of his career to his colleagues.

The answer

Recall. Recall can also mean ‘remember and communicate the memory’.