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a. I guessed the book was in the desk drawer.

b. I guessed the book would be in the desk drawer.

Do either of these sentences indicate that I was right?

Do either of them indicate that I was wrong?

Is there any way to use the verb 'guess' in similar sentences in such a way as to show that the guess was correct?

My impression is that (a) tends to imply that I was correct, but it is not really certain.

Many thanks

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    Neither suggests that you were right or wrong. You could say 'I correctly or wrongly guessed that the book was/would be in the drawer'.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Feb 18 at 21:10
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    The word guess normally implies uncertainty - you could strengthen the implication of being correct with I surmised / deduced that the book was there (where would be there would weaken the "confidence level"). Or just force the implication with I realised that it was there.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 19 at 0:20

1 Answer 1

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Guess was correct..
OP's two sentences are:

a. I guessed the book was in the desk drawer.
b. I guessed the book would be in the desk drawer.

Neither sentences indicate that your guess was right or wrong. The meaning of the sentences -
a. I suspected the book was in the desk drawer.
b. I assumed the book would be in the desk drawer.

Is there any way to use the verb 'guess' in similar sentences in such a way as to show that the guess was correct?

You can use either sentence to show that your guess was right by adding the word correctly.
a. I guessed correctly that the book was in the desk drawer.
b. I guessed correctly that the book would be in the desk drawer..
Or.
You can put an exclamation mark at the end of the sentences.
I guessed that the book was in the desk drawer!
I guessed it! The book was in the desk drawer!

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