Making Guesses

 

Guessing

Making guesses means giving an answer or providing an opinion which may not be correct because you do not have sufficient facts.

When you guess something, you estimate or conclude (something) without enough information to be sure of its veracity.

Asking people to guess something

If you want to ask people to guess something, you may use the following expressions:

• Have a guess!
• Take a guess!
• Hazard a guess!
• Make a guess!
• Can you guess...?
• Guess....? (As in 'guess who's paid for her beautiful golden ring?').
• Guess at (something)
• Guess what! (an expression that comes before a surprising announcement.)

Making guesses

• I guess...
• My guess is...
• I'd say...
• I'd bet...
• At a guess, I think...
• Chances are...
• Off the top of my head, I think...
• Knowing him/her, he/she...
• If I had to take a guess, I'd say...
• Probably...
• Maybe...
• It's difficult to say, but I think...

Examples:

Situation 1: John is reading a book.

• Nancy: What are you reading?
• John: Hazard a guess!

Situation 2: guessing Lisa's age.

• Alan: How old are you?
• Lisa: Take a guess!
• Alan: At a guess, I'd say you are 20.

Situation 3: Leila is late.

• Mr. Smith: I wonder why Leila isn't here.
• His secretary: My guess is that her car has broken down.

Situation 4: Guessing past events.

• Anna: Guess what I did last Saturday.
• Lacy: I'd bet you stayed at home.
• Anna: Wrong guess! I met my ex-husband and went to a restaurant.

Situation 5: Guessing the price.

• Michael: How much do you think I bought this phone?
• George: Off the top of my head, I think it cost you two hundred dollars.

Situation 6: Guessing what the weather will be like.

• Philip: Will you join the demonstration against global warming next weekend?
• Bob: Yes, I will.
• Philip: Bring an umbrella with you because chances are it's going to rain.