Hi Josep, good question. “Could” and “would” are hard to tell apart. In this case, both “could” or “would” are correct, but “would” is the most likely: “I took for granted that you would be here with me, for ever and ever.”

Use “Would” to speak today about an expectation you had (in the past) about something (that was then) in the future, but which did not happen.

I’m going to change the example a bit to help show the difference between “would” and “could”:

You said in the PAST: “I know for sure that I will always run marathons”
~ Then, at some time after you had that belief, you stopped running marathons: the reason is not important; maybe you lost interest, suffered an injury, found a different way to exercise, or the marathon near your house was cancelled ~
You say in the PRESENT: “I took for granted that I would always run marathons, but now I do not run them”

If you want to use “could”, it must be about ability, no other factors. So:

PAST: “I know for sure that I will always run marathons”
~ You suffered an injury and it is no longer possible for you to run them ~
PRESENT: “I took for granted that I could always run marathons, but now I do not have the ability to run them.”

So, “would” is more expansive and covers all reasons an expectation did not come true, while “could” is limited to ability. Back to your example. I imagine a couple is together and either they suffer a breakup or one has a terminal illness. In both those cases, “would” sounds more natural.

Here are a few cases where “could” might work:

“I took for granted that you could always help me in my business” – you might say to a spouse, who now cares for her grandkids and no longer has the ability (time) to help you in the business.
“I took for granted that I could always read a good book, no matter how bad things got” – if you suffer vision loss and can no longer read
“I took for granted that I could pass the bar exam” – you might say after attending law school but being unable to pass the entrance exams to be a practicing attorney

Sorry for the depressing examples, but that’s all I could think of!

OK, thanks, Jeff! But… there is not a mistake in your response? It is not “‘WOULD’ instead of ‘should'”: it is “‘COULD’ instead of ‘should'”, isn’t?

Hi Josep! great example. The only edit I have for you is to use “could” instead of “should.” : I took for granted that you would be here with me, for ever and ever.

🫶🏻 thank you

Hi Susana – good luck with your recovery! It sounds like your mother is a great comfort to you. I have a few tips for you based on this sentence:

1. “Worries” is not the right word here. I think you mean from the Spanish, “se preocupa por todos”, but in English in this case we would say, “She is always thinking about others” or “She’s always looking after others”. Worries is more about a sense of concern that something will happen in the future.

2. Instead of, “I had granted that…” you can say, “I had taken for granted that…”

Great job! Keep up the good work.

“had been taking for granted” is perfect. Just one tiny note. You can say, “I had a car accident,” but it would be more natural to say, “I got into a car accident.”

Great example, Cristina! You can say, “My family takes for granted that I will always be there.”

“Family” may be multiple people, but we treat it as singular, so you would say “takes.”