English Help Online's Blog

Today’s adjective is “reliable”, and it is used in three different ways:

1. to talk about people who do what they say they are going to do. For example:

Brenda said she’d write the report for the client, but she still hasn’t done it yet. She’s really not reliable.

I’ve worked with Todd many times, and he’s a very reliable person. I think you should hire him.

2. to talk about machines that usually work very well and don’t break down. For example:

I want to buy a Mac computer because they’re supposed to be more reliable.

I want to buy a new car. I’m going to be driving a lot, so I need something that is very reliable.

3. to talk about information which is accurate. For example:

I hope the information in this article is reliable. I need to use it when I write my report.

You shouldn’t do research using the Internet because often the information online isn’t reliable.

When we want to say something or someone is not reliable, we can use the word “unreliable”. We can use both “not reliable” and “unreliable” but, generally speaking, it’s a little more casual to use “not” and then the adjective.