Today’s question is from a student who says, “I don’t understand the expression ‘take someone for granted.'” It means you don’t appreciate the real value of that person.
Let’s say your company has a secretary who works very hard, and her work is very valuable to the company. But the other employees don’t really appreciate her. They don’t say thank you, and they don’t recognize her hard work. The employees take the secretary for granted – they fail to appreciate her true value.
We usually take a person for granted when we are accustomed to that person. Often, you only realize that you’ve been taking someone/something for granted when that thing/person goes away.
For example, if you’ve always been healthy but you suddenly get sick, you might realize you’d been taking your good health for granted – you never before appreciated the value of good health, but when you lost it, then you understood how important it was.
Keep asking these great questions, because I love answering them!
