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Hi,
Are the following sentences both correct? If so, is there any difference? "For all I know" already indicates something is uncertain.
For all I know, he left last night.
For all I know, he might have left last night.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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raymondaliasapollyon wrote:Hi,
Are the following sentences both correct? If so, is there any difference? "For all I know" already indicates something is uncertain.
For all I know, he left last night.
For all I know, he might have left last night. Yes, both might be said.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Thank you.
Is there any practical difference between the two?
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raymondaliasapollyon wrote:Thank you.
Is there any practical difference between the two? The two are common and equivalent.
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raymondaliasapollyon wrote:Thank you.
Is there any practical difference between the two? there is a slight difference in emphasis between both sentences; in the second sentence the speaker is not as much sure as in the first one.
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In the way I use this type of phrase, the first would be unusual. "For all I know" is usually (not always) connected with the word "could".
For all I know, he could be a Martian.
They could be here already for all I know.
As Fir Wa says, there does seem to be slightly less uncertainty in the first one - but it's very slight.
I'm used to two sentences like these:
For all I know, he might have left last night. For all I know, he could have left last night. These mean almost exactly the same - I have no data on the subject, but from my 'general knowledge', I'd say it's possible that he might have left last night.
As far as I know, he left last night. - I have a little data on the subject (he said earlier that he'd leave last night; I haven't seen him today) but I have no first-hand knowledge. I didn't see him go. From the little data I have, it's an 'educated guess' that he left last night.
An 'educated guess' is not necessarily true, but it is quite a bit more probable than just a vague possibility.
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