“As you know” is a discourse marker commonly used to indicate shared knowledge or information between the speaker and the listener. It is used to introduce a statement or a piece of information that the speaker assumes the listener is already aware of.
The phrase “as you know” serves as a way to establish common ground or background information, allowing the speaker to refer to something without explicitly stating it. It implies that the information being mentioned is already known or has been previously discussed.
Here are a few examples to illustrate the usage of “as you know”:
- “As you know, our company has been experiencing financial difficulties lately.” – The speaker assumes that the listener is aware of the financial difficulties the company is facing.
- “As you know, the conference starts tomorrow morning at 9:00 am.” – The speaker assumes that the listener has been informed about the conference’s schedule.
- “As you know, John is an excellent pianist.” – The speaker assumes that the listener already has knowledge of John’s musical skills.
In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 1 in the category of discourse markers, writing and ORGANISING is defined as:
‘as you know’ as a discourse marker of shared knowledge.
However, this phrase is listed at B1 in the English Vocabulary profile.
1 AS YOU KNOW, I AM A 130
2 AS YOU KNOW, I’M A 87
3 AS YOU KNOW, I’VE BEEN 86
4 AS YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE 84
5 AS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING 84
6 AS YOU KNOW, THERE ARE MANY 80
7 AS YOU KNOW, I HAVE BEEN 79
8 AS YOU KNOW, I HAVE A 77
9 AS YOU KNOW, THERE IS A 77
10 AS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING 67
11 AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE BEEN 63
12 AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A 59
13 AS YOU KNOW, I LIKE TO 54
14 AS YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT 53
15 AS YOU KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR 53
16 AS YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK. 50
17 AS YOU KNOW BY NOW, I 46
18 AS YOU KNOW BY NOW, THE 44
19 AS YOU KNOW, THERE IS NO 43
20 AS YOU KNOW, THIS IS A 43
21 AS YOU KNOW, I AM NOT 40
22 AS YOU KNOW, THERE’S A 37
23 AS YOU KNOW, WE’VE BEEN 37
24 AS YOU KNOW, I DON’T 35
25 AS YOU KNOW, THERE ARE A 35