I can't understand this sentence well
what does the first sentence mean exactly?

"I expect Tom's jokes were awful. ~ Actually they were rather funny."

Thanks

Question

I can't understand this sentence well
what does the first sentence mean exactly?

"I expect Tom's jokes were awful. ~ Actually they were rather funny."

Thanks

Answer

Jokes told by Tom are usually bad ("awful") People are used to bad jokes from Tom. So an expectation is created that all jokes he tells are going to be bad. However, this expectation was not true, because in reality the joke Tom told was funny. I hope that helps!