This mini episode teaches you how to use the phrase “take for granted.”
Episode 256 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you how to use the phrase “take for granted.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“This is Theodore Freeman, from Toronto, Canada. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 256 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I am going to teach you how to use an interesting and common phrase. And that phrase is “to take for granted.” To take for granted.
That’s take: t-a-k-e, for: f-o-r, granted: g-r-a-n-t-e-d. To take for granted.
What does it mean if you take something for granted?
If you take something for granted, that means that you don’t appreciate it. It is something that is yours, but you no longer think that it is special. Or you don’t think that you need to work hard to keep it. So you do not appreciate it. You just assume that it is yours. And it will always be yours, no matter what you do.
That might be simple enough. But why does it mean that? Why does “take for granted” mean “assume that something is yours and will always be yours, so you no longer appreciate it”?
Let’s look at a couple of these words a little more closely. First, let’s look at the word take. In this expression, take means something like “assume” or “look at in a certain way” or “interpret something in a certain way.” It has to do with the way you think about something, the way something seems to you. You will hear this meaning of take in many different expressions.
What about the word granted? What does the word granted mean? The verb grant is a lot like the verb give. To grant something is a certain kind of giving something. It’s not exactly the same, but it is related to the word give. If something has been granted to you, that means something has been given to you in some way.
So! If you take something for granted, that means you assume that you have already been given this thing. This thing already belongs to you. It is already yours. So you don’t need to work for it. And you don’t need to work to keep it. Maybe this also suggests that you no longer think that you need to take care of something.
If you take something for granted, that means that you believe that it is yours. You believe that it will always be yours. And maybe you believe that it should be yours—you deserve it. And as a result, you stop caring about it. You stop appreciating it.
That was a long explanation. Now, let me give you an example of a situation where somebody uses the phrase “take for granted.” I think this example will really help you understand how to use this phrase and what it means.
“My friend has had the same job for 20 years. And now it seems like he doesn’t really take his job seriously anymore. He doesn’t work hard. He doesn’t seem to care about the job. You know, I think he takes his job for granted.” I think he takes his job for granted.
In other words, he is so familiar with his job. He’s been doing it for a very long time. It no longer seems special to him. He no longer appreciates it. He just assumes that he will always have this job. And he doesn’t appreciate it anymore. He doesn’t realize all of the good things about the job because it has become so familiar. He is so used to it. He takes his job for granted. He doesn’t seem to realize that one day he might lose his job. Maybe something will happen. Maybe something will happen to the company that he works for. Maybe he will get fired because he has such a bad attitude. But he is not thinking about those things because he takes his job for granted.
I hope that helps you understand the interesting and common phrase “take for granted.”
Outro
This is the end of episode 256 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Theodore recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.