The benefit of the doubt?

[the_great_grizzly]

What exactly do you do when you give a person the benefit of the doubt? Or is it the benefit of a doubt? I mean, wheny you give somebody the benefit of the doubt, does that mean that you are not sure if that person is right and you don't argue with them? Thank you!

[Gayathri]

Hello..

The meaning of the idiom "benefit of the doubt" - A favorable judgment granted in the absence of full evidence.

Suppose you suspect a few things when some one is recruiting you for an overseas assignment, they lay several conditions & you raise several risk factors( also called doubts to be clarrified), in such a case, the HR will approve some confidently & some as maybe "YES" or may be "No".
For such points she will use the sentence " I'm very happy to give you the benefit of the doubt on the first one rather than the second one."

Meaning : while raising your risks/doubts, for your 1st point there could be a change in the last minute which might affect you & by giving you the benefit of the doubt, it will turn favourable to you. But the 2nd point you have raised is a clear NO or a YES...

Hope i cleared your doubt:-)