Meaning & use
keep a promise
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Meanings
verbidiom
To do what you have said you will do, so that other people can trust you.
Grammar: A verb plus its object; the determiner can change: keep your promise, keeps his promises.
Patterns
- keep a promise to someone
- keep your promise
She kept her promise and called every Sunday.
A good friend always tries to keep a promise.
He kept the promise he had made to his daughter.
verbidiomformal
To remain faithful to a formal pledge or commitment, such as one made in public, at work or to the voters.
Grammar: More formal contexts often use plural: keep promises, keep election promises.
Patterns
- keep a promise to voters
- keep promises to customers
The mayor said she would keep her promise to repair the roads.
The company kept its promise and refunded all the customers.
Few politicians can keep every promise they make during a campaign.
Word forms
| third person singular | keeps a promise |
|---|---|
| past tense | kept a promise |
| past participle | kept a promise |
| -ing form | keeping a promise |
Common combinations
- always keep a promise
- My father always kept a promise.
- fail to keep a promise
- He failed to keep his promise to be home early.
- keep a promise to oneself
- She kept a promise to herself and finished the marathon.
- keep a solemn promise
- He kept a solemn promise to his dying friend.
- hard to keep a promise
- It is hard to keep a promise when plans change.
Synonyms and how they differ
- honor
- Honor a promise sounds more formal and stresses respect for the commitment, while keep a promise is plain and everyday.
- fulfill
- Fulfill a promise suggests completing something larger or more official.
- stick to
- Stick to a promise implies staying firm despite difficulty.
- deliver on
- Deliver on a promise is common in business and politics, where results are expected.
Opposites
Word family
- promise noun
- a statement that you will definitely do something
- promise verb
- to say that you will definitely do something
- promising adjective
- showing signs of future success
- promissory adjective
- containing a promise, as in a promissory note
Commonly confused: keep a promise or keep the promise? keep a promise or make a promise?
keep a promise vs keep the promise
Keep the promise is grammatical when the promise is known, but keep a promise or keep your promise is more natural in general statements.
keep a promise vs make a promise
Make a promise is giving your word; keep a promise is doing what you said.
Practice
If you say you will help a friend move on Saturday, you should ___ and turn up on time.
Choose one answer.
Keep a promise means doing what you said. Break a promise is the opposite, and the other options are not natural collocations.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “keep a promise”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.