As far as I know

As far as I know

“As far as I know.” Sometimes when we’re speaking, we don’t have the whole story or we don’t have all the facts or we know there’s a possibility—even a small possibility—that we might be wrong.

And “as far as I know” is an excellent way of giving information, but also acknowledging the possibility that we might not necessarily have all the right information or we might not have the most up-to-date information.

Providing information with uncertainty

Let’s start with an example where you say something is true, but you allow for the possibility that you might be wrong. Imagine you have a calendar invitation for a meeting at 3:00 p.m. in a conference room. Ten people are supposed to be there. You and one other colleague get to the conference room at 3:00 on the dot, and there’s nobody else there.

You might say to your colleague, “The meeting is for 3, right?” And your colleague might say back, “As far as I know it’s scheduled for 3:00, but I might be wrong.”

And by saying “as far as I know,” your colleague is telling you that she thinks the meeting is scheduled at 3, but she’s not entirely certain. Maybe she hasn’t checked her email in the last hour or so, so it’s possible the meeting has been cancelled. It’s possible she misremembered. So she says, “As far as I know, it’s scheduled for 3:00.”

When you use “as far as I know” in this way, you’re almost inviting the other person to double-check if they need absolute certainty. So here’s what you might say back. You might say, “Okay, I’ll check.” Or “Let me text the meeting organizer to be sure.”

Setting a boundary on knowledge

So that was a situation where your colleague thought she had the right information but wasn’t 100 percent sure. You can also say “as far as I know” if you want to clearly say that you are not the best person to ask. And when you do it this way, you’re almost saying, “Hey, I don’t have all the best information, but this is what I know.”

Back at the office. Let’s pretend you have a minor role on a big project. You’re just helping out with a few hours of work on it, but other people are doing most of the work. Someone might ask you, “Is this project still on track?” You might answer, “As far as I know, we’re on track.”

This is like saying, “I’m not the best person to ask about this. But since you asked, me, here’s what I know. “As far as I know, we’re on track.”

How to tell the difference

So here’s the question. How do you know when someone is using it one way versus the other? Remember, one way means, “I think this is true but I might be wrong” and the other way means, “I’m not the best person to ask, but here’s what I think.”

Those aren’t opposites, but they are two different things! Here’s how you know the difference. It’s in the pronunciation. Listen.

The meeting starts at 3, right? “As far as I know, it starts at 3.” Say it like that, with the emphasis on “know,” and it means, “I think so but I’m not sure.” “As far as I know, it starts at 3.”

The project is on track, right? “As far as I know, we’re on track.” Say it like that, with the emphasis on “I”, and it means, “I’m not the best person to ask, but I think so.” “As far as I know, we’re on track.”

Stand-alone affirmative answer

One last thing. Sometimes you can answer a question with “As far as I know,” and that can be the whole answer. Here’s what I mean.

One person might ask, “Our flight leaves at 9:00 tomorrow right?” The other person might simply say, “As far as I know.”

One person might ask, “Has everyone submitted all their required paperwork?” The other might reply, “As far as I know.”