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What's the idiomatic verb that goes together with the fulfilling of a promise?

Some example I thought of - are:

  1. Please, if you promise something, then _____ it.

  2. He always _____ his promises.

  3. I don't like to promise promises if I don't know for sure that I'll____ them.

  4. It's very good to promise promises but it's even better to____ them.

The words that I can think of are: fulfill, do, make it true.

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  • This is homework, right?
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 18:27
  • I'm sorry, but the answer is: not at all. It's original 100% by me. These are problems that I might come across everyday. Basically I used always the word "do" in this context, but today I decided to check it out.
    – Virtuous Legend
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 18:27
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    Ah right. I should have read more carefully. To make a promise. :)
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 20:08

1 Answer 1

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keep a promise (do not break it)

Keep can mean "to be faithful to":

  1. Please, if you promise something, then keep it.

  2. He always keeps his promises.

  3. I don't like to promise promises if I don't know for sure that I'll be able to keep them.

  4. It's very good to promise promises but it's even better to keep them.

The opposite of keeping a promise would be to break a promise:

  1. Please, if you promise something, then do not break it.

  2. He never breaks his promises.

  3. I don't like to promise promises if I don't know for sure that I won't break them.

  4. It's very good to promise promises but it's even better to not break them.

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    Sentence 1 is not correct. The antecedent of "it" is "something," so your sentence means "if you promise [to do] something, then keep that thing." Promises are kept, but only when they're nouns, not verbs.
    – Juhasz
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 18:45
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    As a footnote, we could get around the somewhat awkward "promise promises" by using the verb make, as in: I don't like to make promises if I don't know for sure that I'll be able to keep them. @Juhasz - The verb make could fix the problem you've pointed out, too: Please, if you make a promise, then keep it.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 18:46

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