english language

take for granted

Assume? Or presume?

@JudyEv (382104)

Rockingham, Australia

November 18, 2024 6:48pm CST

I have said quite often in comments that I shouldn’t ‘assume’ so much. Sometimes I’d use ‘presume’ and I got to wondering what the difference was and did it matter. It seems that while both mean to take something for granted, presume implies an ‘informed decision based on reasonable evidence’. Assume should be used if there is little or no evidence. However, in legalese, ‘presumed innocent until proven guilty’ has a somewhat different meaning and can be defined as ‘to suppose to be true without proof’. I wonder if I’ll remember to use the right one. I wouldn’t bet on it. I assume the photo was taken in France? Or should that be presume?

17 people like this

17 responses

@rebelann (117237)

• El Paso, Texas

19 Nov 24

Oh my this English language of ours, I've been told it's hard to learn.

9 people like this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

I should think it is quite difficult.

3 people like this

@AmbiePam (120753)

• United States

19 Nov 24

I never really thought about that one. I saw something the other day that reminded me of you.

5 people like this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

How lovely is that? Is it a wall hanging? Thanks for thinking of me and for putting up the photo. We're just closed down the website where we had all the endurance photos. We won't be doing any more rides and the website is costing us quite a few dollars each year.

3 people like this

@AmbiePam (120753)

• United States

19 Nov 24

@JudyEv Yes, it is. I’m sorry you won’t be doing any more rides, but you sure made a lot of people happy for a long period of time by doing such great work.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

1 person likes this

@BarBaraPrz (51819)

• St. Catharines, Ontario

19 Nov 24

Don't presume the photo was taken in France, as sunflowers grow everywhere. But I assume you think that because Vinny van Gogh liked to paint them.

4 people like this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

I assume also that it's because it''s the only place where we saw sunflowers growing in such numbers.

It took us days to be on the right side of the sunflowers so they had their heads turned towards us.

3 people like this

@jobelbojel (36796)

• Philippines

19 Nov 24

I am only assuming that this presume is somewhat different from assume. LOL

2 people like this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

Very clever. Well done you.

@FourWalls (86713)

• United States

19 Nov 24

I presumed that you would tell us not to assume anything.

3 people like this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

See? There you go. You got that wrong because you presumed!

2 people like this

Lenore Plassman

@sallypup (69176)

• Centralia, Washington

19 Nov 24

You are very nice so I assume others aren't mean to you if you do make a piddly mistake.

3 people like this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

I'm not sure I'm THAT nice but thank you.

1 person likes this

@Letranknight2015 (52665)

• Philippines

20 Nov 24

Thats why people should fact check every thing. Something most people don't do these days. It creates rumors and gives you bad reputation.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

21 Nov 24

That is so true. We should do a lot more fact-checking especially nowadays when some people don't seem to care what they put out for public consumption.

@JESSY3236 (22245)

• United States

19 Nov 24

pretty picture.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

20 Nov 24

I'm glad you like it. Sunflowers to me always seem like 'happy' flowers.

1 person likes this

@Dena91 (17039)

• United States

19 Nov 24

I don't think I ever thought about the subtle differences between assume and presume. Thanks for the post.

What a lovely photo

2 people like this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

We'd never seen fields of sunflowers before. I'd never really thought about them being crops.

2 people like this

@Ronrybs (21497)

• London, England

20 Nov 24

That's what I always presumed about those words, from what I'd read. Nice to be right for a change! Course, legalise is always different from real world

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

20 Nov 24

I understand about feeling good about being right. Especially if it doesn't happen all that often.

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21497)

• London, England

20 Nov 24

@JudyEv Yep, enjoy while it lasts!

1 person likes this

Anindita Sengupta

@aninditasen (18198)

• Raurkela, India

19 Nov 24

The photo is evident and therefore we should use presume.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

Yes, it's an interesting difference.

1 person likes this

Anindita Sengupta

@aninditasen (18198)

• Raurkela, India

22 Nov 24

@JudyEv Yes, it is and a good brain teaser.

1 person likes this

@thelme55 (79324)

• Germany

19 Nov 24

I am always careful whenever I use assume or presume. I don’t want it to go wrong in my sentence .

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

I think most people wouldn't really notice which was used but I like to get it right too.

1 person likes this

@thelme55 (79324)

• Germany

20 Nov 24

@JudyEv I suppose so. I want to get it right, too.

1 person likes this

@LindaOHio (222417)

• United States

19 Nov 24

Thanks for the language lesson! Have a good day.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

Did you learn something? It's not very important really but I found it interesting.

1 person likes this

@LindaOHio (222417)

• United States

20 Nov 24

@JudyEv Yes, I did.

1 person likes this

@porwest (112876)

• United States

19 Nov 24

You took all the explanation out of my mouth. Yep. Presuming is based on evidence of some kind while assume is more of a guess.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

I found it interesting that there is a difference. I didn't know about it before I looked it up.

1 person likes this

@porwest (112876)

• United States

19 Nov 24

@JudyEv Most words do have different meanings. At least, so I have found. lol

1 person likes this

@wolfgirl569 (135770)

• Marion, Ohio

19 Nov 24

I would assume that's a pretty picture

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

Thanks. Well done!!

1 person likes this

@Shiva49 (28385)

• Singapore

19 Nov 24

Only through practice and attention to detail, we get it right as there is a subtle difference in meaning.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

20 Nov 24

Yes, we need to be aware of what precise meaning we're trying to convey.

1 person likes this

Dr Souvik Chatterji

@sathviksouvik (23241)

•

19 Nov 24

the photo of the sunflowers are awesome

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382104)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Nov 24

We were very excited to see such a large field of them. They grow them like this in Queensland but not in my state.