say for sure

[hhtt21]

"[FONT=&quot]Never used it, so cannot say for sure, but a quick search found this post"

Would you please explain the part say for sure. It is somehow confusing to me. It does not make much sense to me but somehow I understand that it means "I am not sure."

[/FONT]https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-winapps/evernote-storage/1ba9ee66-e234-4344-b0f6-4d2520585760

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

"Never used it, so cannot say for sure, but a quick search found this post"

Would you please explain the part say for sure. It is somehow confusing to me. It does not make much sense to me but somehow I understand that it means "I am not sure."

Your understanding is correct. I can't say for sure/for certain but... means "I'm not completely sure, but I believe...."

 

[andrewg927]

What is confusing to you?

 

[hhtt21]

What is confusing to you?

First of all, it seems to me a strange sentence. Second is "say for sure" an idiom? For sure itself does not make much sense.

Thank you.

 

[jutfrank]

for sure is a very common phrase.

 

[andrewg927]

It's not a complete sentence, hhtt21. The full sentence should be something like "I have never used it so I cannot say for sure but a quick search found this post." For sure or for certain just means you are sure or certain.

 

[hhtt21]

It's not a complete sentence, hhtt21. The full sentence should be something like "I have never used it so I cannot say for sure but a quick search found this post." For sure or for certain just means you are sure or certain.

The original is not grammatical, is it?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

The original is not grammatical, is it?

Thank you.

And the original sentence is fine. It's reported speech so it's clearly exactly what the speaker said. Don't forget that native speakers don't worry too much about speaking in perfect grammatical sentences.

 

[Tdol]

When writing on the internet, where speed is often more important than correct grammar, people often write like this, just as they would when taking notes, where the information is the most important thing.