Learn how to use the verb "think"
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| What now? |
| Have you ever thought about how much you think about thinking? |
| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha and welcome to Know Your Verbs. In this episode, we're going to talk about the verb "think." So, let's get started. |
| The basic definition of "think" is to have in the mind. So, something you can keep in your mind like an idea or an image. Something you keep in your head, something in your mind, something in your brain. So, to keep in the mind is "think," "to think," this is the basic definition of "think." |
| So, let's look at the conjugations of the verb "think." Present tense; "think," "thinks." Past tense, "thought." Past participle, "thought." Progressive or continuous tense, "thinking." "Think," "thinks," "thought," "thought," "thinking." |
| Okay. Let's look at some additional meanings of the verb "think." First is to consider or to reflect on or to ponder. It means to consider something carefully or spend time considering something. So, "ponder" means to think for a long time or to think hard about something, so consider carefully, reflect on. Examples, "Can I have a day to think about this?" "He's thinking about what to do next?" In these example sentences, "Can I have a day to think about this?" taking one day to reflect on something, like before you make a decision it's a pretty common thing to do, before like a big decision. So, "Can I have a day to think about this?' means "Can I have a day to consider this carefully?" or "Can I have a day to ponder this?" In the second example sentence, "He's thinking about what to do next," means he's considering carefully his next step, he's considering carefully what he should do next. So, "thinking" is used in the progressive tense here to show that he is currently, at this time, considering something carefully. But, to consider carefully, we can make shorter and use the verb "thinking," "He's thinking about what to do next." |
| Okay. Next is "to create something by thinking" or "to create something by considering." We usually use this with the word "up" after the verb "think." "We thought up so many crazy party ideas in college." "She thought up a plan for product promotion." Both of these example sentences mean to create something by considering it in your mind. So, in the first example sentence, "We thought up crazy ideas for parties in college," means we design something using our brains, we considered something and created an idea, we created something by thinking. So, "to think up," blah, blah, blah. So, "We thought up crazy party ideas," so we designed crazy party ideas by thinking about them, by considering things in our minds. In the second example sentence, we see the same meaning but for a business situation; "She thought up a plan for product promotion." In this case, past tense, "she thought up," "She designed a plan for product promotion." But when we say "designed" it sounds maybe, like, she plans, something on a computer perhaps. When we use "she thought up," it means she used her mind, she considered the ideas she had and created a plan in her mind for the promotion of the product. So, "thought up" uses the mind to create something. |
| Next is "to have as an expectation." "To have as an expectation," to expect something. "I didn't think you'd arrive so quickly." "We thought it would take a lot longer to finish dinner." In the first example sentence, "We didn't think you'd arrive so quickly," it means the speaker expects that the listener would take longer to arrive, the listener was going to arrive later than they actually did. So, the speaker, in this case, had the expectation that the listener was going to arrive later, so they used the negative. "We didn't think you'd arrive so quickly." So "we didn't think," "We didn't expect you'd arrive so quickly." We can replace the verb "think" with "expect" here and it creates the same meaning, the same nuance really. But "think" sounds a little bit less formal than "expect." So, "We didn't think you'd arrive so quickly." The second example sentence is, "We thought it would take a lot longer to finish dinner." Again, "we expected," "We had the expectation it would take a lot longer to finish dinner." We can replace the verb "thought," past tense, with the past tense, "expected," "We expected it would take a lot longer to finish dinner." In this way, "think," or in past tense, "thought," is used in exactly the same way as "expected" here. |
| The next meaning is "to consider suitability." Let's look at some examples. "I've never thought of him like a manager." "We're thinking of her for a higher position." In the first sentence, "I've never thought of him like a manager," in this way, "thought" means I've never understood him to be suitable for the position of manager. That's a very long way of explaining this sentence. But, to condense everything, we use the word, "thought," "I've never thought of him as a manager," means "I've never considered him to potentially be suitable as a manager." In the second example sentence, "We're thinking of her for a higher position," it means we're considering whether or not she is suitable for a higher position at her job or a higher position at her company. So, in this way, "thinking" in the progressive tense means, "We are considering her suitability for a position, a higher-level position." You'll notice that the two example sentences included here are related to work. You'll see though that this meaning tends to be used a lot with jobs and political positions, kind of something maybe promotion-related. So, promotion-related or kind of hierarchy-related, you'll often hear this in work situations, employment situations. |
| Let's look at some variations, some other words we can attach to "think" to create different meanings. First is, "think better of." "Think better of" means to reconsider and make a better decision or make an improved decision. It means to consider something again and change your decision hopefully to make an improved decision. Examples, "I wanted to say something, but I thought better of it and kept my mouth shut." "We'll think better of you if you tell the truth." So, in both of these sentences, there's a reconsideration, someone is considering something again and making an improved decision because of that reconsideration. So, in the first example sentence, "I wanted to say something," we see in past tense, "I wanted to say something, but I thought better of it." So, "it," in this case, is the thing I wanted to say in the first part of the sentence. "I thought better of it" means I reconsidered it and decided against my first inclination, I decided not to do the first thing I was thinking about. And, "I kept my mouth shut," so in this case, my mouth remained closed, in other words. I reconsidered my initial action, that action I initially wanted to do. In the second sentence, "We'll think better of you if you tell the truth," we see it's used for future. "We will think better of you if you tell the truth," meaning if you tell the truth, our opinion of you will improve, "We will think better of you." So, "Tell the truth and we'll consider you, again, essentially and our opinion of you will improve if you do this." |
| The next variation is "think much of." This means to have a positive view of or to approve of. Examples, "He doesn't think much of his professor." "We didn't think much of last night's dinner." We see in the first example sentence, "He didn't think much of his professor," means he didn't really approve of his professor or he didn't have a very positive view of his professor. So, a shorter way to explain that feeling is "He didn't think much of his professor." In the second example sentence, "We didn't think much of last night's dinner," this means, again, we didn't really approve of last night's dinner or we don't have a very positive view or a very positive opinion of last night's dinner. These are rather long, so we can condense it to "We didn't think much of last night's dinner." |
| I hope that this video helped you level up your knowledge of how to use the verb "think." If you have any questions or comments or if you know another way to use the word, "think," please let us know in the comment section below the video. If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel and check us out at EnglishClass101.com for other good things too. |
| Thanks very much for watching this episode of Know Your Verbs and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye. |
| Oh, I think that your thought about my thought is the thinking thought. What? |
| My name is always showing up in this episode. |
| First is– |
| Uh-hmm. Nah. I'm thinking about summer. Oh. |
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