This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2516, Assumption vs. Presumption in English.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglishcom.
Forward slash subscribe.
We don't mean to be presumptuous, but you need this vocabulary.
Today, find out the key differences between assumption and presumption and get a fun way to use presumptuous to gauge your social connectedness.
Think about the last time someone leaned in and said, sorry, can you say that again?
It's frustrating, right?
You know the word, you said it, but the sound wasn't clear.
That's not a grammar or a vocabulary problem.
It's a pronunciation problem.
And it doesn't mean changing who you are or erasing your accent.
It means making your English easy to follow and clear every time.
Want to see what's getting in your way?
Take our two-minute quiz to get your English level at allearsenglish.com slash fluency score.
That's allearsenglish.com slash Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Feeling great today, Michelle.
How's everything with you?
I'm doing well, thanks.
Lindsay, do you ever make assumptions about something and they turn out to be false?
I would like to say no, but of course, everyone does, right?
Of course.
Right.
I mean, sometimes I may prejudge a book or a restaurant or whatever it may be, right?
So many things are counter to what we imagine at first.
You know, often the best food is in the smallest hole in the wall that doesn't have a fancy front to it as a restaurant, right.
It's just like maybe three or four seats, but it's really good food, right?
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
So today we're going to answer a listener question about a similar word and we're going to talk about how these two words work.
So this question came to us from YouTube and it was a two-parter actually, so it's from.
The question was can you explain the different?
Explain the words jarring and presumption?
Lindsay mentioned them in the episode, thank you.
So We actually did jarring already, but we wanted to do presumption.
Guys, towards the end of the episode we will let you know where to find the episode where we talk about the word jarring.
Yes, yes.
So make sure you hang out to the end.
And while you're here, hit follow.
Make sure you are following All Ears English so you don't miss a single episode.
So, yeah, we answered the first listener's question about the word jarring in that other episode.
But we're coming back now, Michelle, to presumption.
Presumption.
Presumption.
Let's talk about it.
Okay, so we're going to actually talk about the words presumption and assumption.
Okay.
Yeah, since they're so widely used and they have so much in common.
So, Lindsay, let's start with presumption.
Yes.
So what is... presumption.
I know.
Well, these words are in meeting.
I'm actually curious to know what the difference is because they feel very similar in a lot of ways.
Um, so presumption is where you believe something, um, or acted in a way without proof, right?
Uh, there's a level of arrogance to presumption.
Um, you know, this could also be related to the legal system, like the presumption of innocence in the U?
S, you're presumed, presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Right right, the presumption of innocence?
Yeah, or she acted under the presumption that her rent wasn't going to increase this year, so that's what she thought would happen, and she, she presumed that it wasn't going to increase um, but we don't know for sure.
Or he made a lot of presumptions about the job that weren't even remotely true.
And so he was quite unhappy.
So these are assumptions that happened beforehand, would you say, Michelle?
Is that kind of it?
Could be before it.
Yeah, right.
Exactly.
So you believe that something will happen, but you don't really have the proof.
And of course, we've heard people say the word presumptuous as the adjective to describe themselves.
Like you might hear someone say, I don't mean to be presumptuous, but X, Y, Z, right?
So just to be aware of that as an adjective, but we can't say a sumptuous, can we?
No, there's no, there's no form like that.
Yeah.
I've never heard of that before.
So after we come back from the break in just a minute, we're going to go into assumption assumptions, assuming things right, okay.
Okay michelle, let's talk about assumption and how it might be different from presumption.
Yes, exactly.
So this is also what's him.
I mean, these words are very close.
Um, this is also believing something without proof, right?
Um lindsey i, we can't say this joke, but there's kind of a joke with a about how to spell this word.
Do you know?
Oh oh oh, i know, when you assume yeah, i guess.
Yes, you guys can look that up.
Look up assume spelling joke.
And you can find it.
But let's talk about the difference here.
I mean that's.
You know it's almost the same, but To me this is a little less formal than a presumption.
And it also it doesn't necessarily have the same negative like as negative a connotation.
Like it sounds less entitled.
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
It's more dramatic.
Presumption is more dramatic.
Right.
Yeah.
Less entitled.
I do agree with that.
There's a little less drama about this.
Right.
And the other thing is assumption is more common, right?
It's not really presumption.
It kind of sounds a little bit more legal.
Assumption is more just everyday life.
So, for example, I made an assumption that the schedule would be full.
I should have called you first.
Yes.
So to make an assumption, I could have.
I mean, it just wouldn't have sounded right if I said I made a presumption.
Yeah, you're right.
You're right.
This is the difference.
It's a little hard to explain.
My assumption was that her flight was going to arrive late.
I really wouldn't say my presumption was that her... No, that's too formal sounding, right?
Right, right.
Or I'm working under the assumption that we will have met our goals by the end of the month.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean, you could say, instead of I made an assumption, you could say, like I'm acting under the presumption
Right.
So like, for example, earlier up I said, she acted under the presumption that her rent wasn't going to increase this year.
Right.
But I think that that's kind of a whole expression to act under the presumption.
Yeah.
Maybe the difference is if, let's say, we're roommates and I tell you oh, I acted under the assumption that our rent would stay the same.
I'm telling that to you because we're roommates.
It's more casual.
But maybe if maybe it wouldn't have to be true.
But maybe if I go to the landlord and I sit down in their office and I'm trying to be more formal, I could say I acted under the presumption that our rent wouldn't increase.
So I'm asking for an exception.
Maybe that could be so presumption more formal.
Right?
Yes, definitely.
Yeah.
So again, presumption, like Lindsay said, more formal, a little less common.
I don't think that I use presumption too much, but I might say assumption more frequently more, every day.
Also presumption, it could sound a little bit more arrogant, a little bit more negative.
Oh, I presume that you will be paying for our trip.
Yes.
Right.
It's a little more entitled for sure.
Whereas assumption is less formal.
It's a little more common.
It's more everyday speak, everyday language, talking to anyone.
And it doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation.
It doesn't have to right and then right, it doesn't have to.
I mean it could, but it depends on the context.
And then there's presume and assume right, so just the verb form.
So like, for example, i presume you will bring, be bringing over all of our dinners.
Or i assume you heard from the bank um, you know, if we switch these up like i assume you will be bringing over all of our dinners, that would sound fine, a little less arrogant maybe.
Yeah, it would be OK.
All right.
Getting taking away the arrogance.
And then what if we swapped in?
I presume you heard from the bank.
That's a little much.
That's a little much.
You know, unless you're trying to be fancy and you're trying to say something on a pedestal.
I presume you heard from the bank.
Right.
And I do.
And I do think, Lindsay, something that you said earlier on is important here, because if you think about it, it presumption, it has the word pre in it.
Right.
So like you said, it may be more for something like in the future.
I presume this will happen.
Right.
So I'm not sure if that's necessarily connected, but it does make more sense to me.
If I say I presume you heard from the bank, it's to me, it sounds a little awkward.
Exactly.
And I feel like it comes up more in movies too, especially movies dealing with like royalty or something, or cartoon characters that are supposed to be elevated in a society.
I presume this.
You presume this.
It's really, it's got an elevated nature to it.
Right.
Yes.
Yes.
Totally.
So we are going to do a role play now so you can kind of see how this would fit together.
So here we are in a business meeting.
Okay.
Let's do it.
All right.
Okay, so I presume you will be on time this time?
Uh, yeah, of course.
Thanks.
And will you be staying late?
Well, I was under the assumption that we would be out by 8.
Yeah, that's right.
Okay, great.
Yeah, so the way you asked me that, I had a weird reaction.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because, yeah, that, yeah...
I don't know.
I was just very snooty.
You're, you're elevating yourself a little bit in that sense.
You're separating yourself from me a little bit distance wise, social distance.
Yeah.
You're really, you're saying more than just, I think you'll be on time.
I believe you'll be on time.
Right.
You're being a little distance there.
Right.
A little distance there.
And then what did I say later on?
Later you said I was under the assumption that we would be out by eight.
Right.
I could have said presumption.
I acted under the presumption.
But again, that's it's a little less neutral sounding.
Yeah, there's a lot here.
This is a really good question.
And I love this episode.
I love comparing presumption and assumption because they're kind of the same, but they're also not the same at all.
Right.
And that's what I love.
Yeah.
Guys, go back and listen.
If anything confused you today, go check out 2499 English vocabulary for your most jarring moments.
That is the first answer to the first part of the question from our amazing YouTube listener.
Check out that episode.
Right, Michelle?
Yeah.
So, yeah, takeaways for today.
Again, I think if you are really trying to decide between the two, assumption is probably going to be the safer bet for most of your everyday conversation situations.
I agree.
I would say that that's kind of the key takeaway for today.
But listen, you'll hear it in movies.
You'll hear it in, you know, probably if you are watching, maybe like a court or like a legal movie, like a courtroom movie or a show, totally presume presumption of innocence and all of these things.
Right.
Exactly.
The only one that I would say does work as a social connector is is using presumptuous to refer to yourself that you don't want to be presumptuous.
Like, for example, let's say you just got engaged Michelle, and we start talking about your wedding and I'm assuming I'm going to be in your wedding party, right?
Or I say something that alludes to the fact that I assume I'll be in your wedding party.
I might want to back up socially and say, oh, I don't mean to be presumptuous, right?
I might add that in.
It's a way of pulling ourselves back and checking our place in terms of connection.
It's a polite thing to say a lot of ways.
Right.
Or actually I mean on the other end.
You could say like, let's say, somebody asks you out on a date, but they ask you in a way that makes it seem like oh, they think you're going to say yes.
Or they might say like all right, so which restaurant are we going to?
And you could say like, that's a little presumptuous.
So it's a fun.
So there is some way we can have fun with the word presumptuous by pushing people back checking our own social place.
So there is some connection moments built into these words.
There are for sure.
Okay.
Definitely.
This is fun.
Yeah.
Really interesting.
Really good stuff today, Michelle.
And I'll see you back on All Ears English very soon.
All right.
All right.
You too.
Bye.
Bye, guys.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
Would you like to know your English level?
Take our two-minute quiz.
Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score.
And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
