LoginKeep vs. Maintain
Both 'keep' and 'maintain' mean to make something stay in a particular state or condition. However, they are grammatically different. This lesson will explore the similarities of these two verbs as well as their differences in terms of the structure of sentences that use each of them.
Similarity
Both 'keep' and 'maintain' mean 'to make something remain in the same state or condition or at the same level'. They involve actions taken to ensure the continued existence, condition, or functioning of something. For example:
To
The company tries to
The athlete worked hard to
The artist
Difference
As you might have noticed in the examples above, 'keep' and 'maintain' are not completely interchangeable as they form different structures. While 'maintain' only requires a noun or noun phrase as its object, 'keep' is a complex transitive verb which requires a noun or noun phrase plus a complement that describes the state or condition that is to remain the same. Take a look at the examples below:
Regular exercise and a balanced diet are crucial to
'a healthy lifestyle' is the object of the verb 'maintain.
Regular exercise and a balanced diet are crucial to
The same idea can be expressed using 'keep', but the structure of the sentence has to change: 'your lifestyle' is a noun phrase and 'healthy' is its complement.
Could you please
Here, 'the documents' is the object and 'safe' is the complement.
Furthermore, 'keep' can also mean 'to remain in a particular state or condition'. In this case, it is a linking verb that connects a subject to its complement, but does not need an object. 'Maintain' is always transitive and cannot be used interchangeably with 'keep' in this structure. For example:
I'm trying to
The crowd
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