Expressing Doubt and Uncertainty

In many everyday situations, we might be uncertain about what we’re saying. We sometimes doubt what other people are saying, and we question the information we are given.

There are many ways in which we can express our doubts or uncertainty, and it is important to do this in a polite manner, especially in a professional environment.

Remember: we are looking for clarity, for the benefit of everyone.

I’m not absolutely sure that is going to work.

I’m afraid that doesn’t sound entirely clear to me.

I have some doubts about this, to be honest.

In these examples, we can hear very typical phrases that are both direct and effective. We are basically saying, I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Can you explain/confirm/clarify?

Let’s look at two useful ways of telling people that you are not totally sure about something.

The first one is: As far as I am aware…

Here we are showing the listener that we think perhaps we are not fully aware of the situation. Maybe there is more recent information that we haven’t heard or seen. We can offer only what we know so far. 

So, how can we use this? 

As far as I am aware, it is fully compliant with the configuration.

In this example, we are suggesting that our information may be limited, or maybe not.

Let’s try another one: To the best of my knowledge…

This shows, again, that we accept the possibility that our knowledge may be limited. We can use this when a problem arises, sometimes to suggest we are not responsible, perhaps because we are surprised that the situation differs from what we already know.

To the best of my knowledge, the backup session went ahead as scheduled.

We are not totally sure why there is a problem, and we’re worried that it doesn’t make sense. As far as we know, everything was okay.