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Τετάρτη 18 Δεκεμβρίου 2013

Suppose vs. Guess vs. Figure

Happy English New York – Suppose vs. Guess vs. Figure: English Vocabulary Lesson
Suppose means to assume something, based on some evidence or probability, but without certain proof:
  • I suppose you have a good reason for being late. I’m sure you probably have a good reason for being late.
  • It’s 6:10pm and nobody answered the phone in Joe’s office. I suppose they’ve already gone home. I know they usually go home by 5:30 or 6:00pm. Based on that, and the evidence that nobody answered the phone, I assume they’ve already gone home. 
We also use suppose to introduce a hypothesis:
  • The police suppose the bank was robbed between 9pm Friday and noon on Saturday.
  • I suppose we could attract more customers by changing the color of the website.
Guess means to estimate something without having sufficient information to be exactly correct:
  • I guess Jane’s boyfriend is about 35 or 37 years old.
  • There’s a long line in front of the restaurant. I guess there will be a long wait for a table.
Figure is used in informal English to mean we think or expect something to be the situation:
  • The boss said he wants to talk about something important tomorrow. I figure he will talk to me about that transfer to Tokyo I heard about. The transfer to Tokyo is a big topic in my company now, and I since only a few of us speak Japanese, think the boss wants to talk about this.
  • I cooked dinner! I figured you would be tired from your long day in the office, so I decided to cook dinner for you. I expected that you would be too tired to cook.

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