this is an all ears English podcast episode 1993. think of or think about what do you think
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your seven day free trial at allearsenglish.com forward slash app [Music] how do you know when
to use think of think or think about in today's episode Lindsay and Michelle give you hints so
that you know which word to pull out when for the best possible English Connection [Music]
Michelle what are you thinking about oh today I'm thinking about when my voice is Gonna Come Back
Our listeners have been hearing this because we've recorded a few episodes a little out
of order here uh it'll be back soon Michelle what are we getting into do we have a great
question from a listener yes I love this question guys this is a very specific one
um we love those really specific questions um Lindsay it's a short one can you read it for
us sure this is from Juan and he says what is the difference between think of and think about I love
listener questions because it helps us to know that we're on track for you guys for our listeners
right right right right exactly so this is going to be really good we are going to get into this
um so guys but before we do that before we get into this more we have a special request for you
yeah here's a special request if you love aller's English if you love our motto of connection not
Perfection right by the way Michelle does that stand for what do we mean by that connection not
Perfection that it's more important to use your language in a way to connect than to be so Frozen
and nervous because you're worried about you know uh a specific grammar point that you kind
of freeze up or just don't even like realize the purpose of why you're trying to speak with people
and what your whole goal is exactly exactly that's it I mean it doesn't mean that grammar
doesn't matter we want you to speak correctly and we're here to help you with that it means what you
prioritize is connection it's never being correct okay because you can connect without being correct
I like that love it okay so here's our special request if you believe in that philosophy it's
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podcast all there's English send a link to a friend right now through whatever app you're
using whether it's Spotify or apple or castbox there should be a way to grab a link to this
episode or this show and send it to one friend okay good Perfect all right so that'd be great so
guys we want to also um like let you know about another good grammar episode specific question
here is uh episode 1951 which was on to or into yes confusing English prepositions explained so
that's a good grammar one that's a really good one so that's 1951. okay so this is a really good
question so where are we going to start here to help our listeners know the difference all right
well we're going to start with think so this is just basic it could be used to talk about your
opinion or if you're considering something I feel like think is more like the umbrella term um yeah
so for example I think you should give it a chance or Lindsay what's another one yeah or what do you
think I ask that all the time I'm always looking for people's opinions right what do you think what
do you think I should do write all these things or I don't think so very common what else I think
it must be tough to live in a small town yeah okay so you're saying here the first thing our
listeners need to know is let's just let's think about what think means maybe that'll be the title
right it's everywhere isn't it oh yeah so so think is I think oh my
gosh Michelle we're stuck we're stuck yeah that's this happens guys on the
show sometimes like we just find ourselves just repeating the thing we're talking about
um so it's a little bit more of an umbrella term I think it's more um widely used think about
let's talk about that okay so this one is more about trying to decide something or maybe you're
currently ruminating on something in your head right something's going in circles in your mind
I love that word like ruminating by the way great bonus for today yeah guys write that one that's
your bonus for today ruminate right to ruminate just to I ruminate a lot on things right going
back and forth and it's going around and around and around in your mind maybe you're trying to
decide something right right torture yeah so I mean one example it could be somebody might say
what are you thinking about out do you ever have somebody say something that to you and you're like
I don't know like yeah for sure especially if I'm quiet right and I mean I'm staring out the window
someone might come out what are you thinking about right now right right right right right right
um so or you could say I'm thinking about moving abroad now you could also say thinking of moving
abroad right you could you could yeah and and you know there are times when the differences
don't matter as much right right [Music] but I'm thinking about moving abroad or thinking of moving
abroad this means considering right you're playing around with the possibility you're considering it
right right okay um what's another so I'm thinking about all the work I have to do later and it's
stressing me out so that's again kind of a bit of ruminating a bit of just processing something in
your mind right right right um and then what do you think about going to the show with me
later yes okay so these this was pretty standard are we gonna contrast this Michelle would think
of thinking of a little bit later oh no we were just we were just gonna oh wait well I do mention
thinking of yes you're right yeah okay all right let's keep going you take it away I mean I think
it's more active thinking when you use thinking about yeah yeah like for example you like if we
tried to switch some of it up so it wouldn't work out grammatically if I said I'm thinking about you
should give it a chance yes I'm thinking about you should give it a chance right I agree with that I
think you should give it a chance yeah yeah yeah so right this is a tough question actually the
more you think about it It's Tricky yeah exactly um or I think move abroad no it would have to be
I'm thinking about I'm considerate right I'm considerate yeah so I think that's definitely
different thinking about something is considering it thinking about what happened yesterday is
processing so it's like considering processing these are like buckets that this falls into would
you say right right right exactly so I think I just more active more active thinking here and
I guess we're more talking about the meaning here than necessarily the grammar and all of the things
that go into the actual grammar Point um so but we can touch on that more another time as well okay
okay Michelle let's keep going here are we gonna get into think of in this next section yes so uh
so think of so this is mostly the same as think about Lindsay like what you were saying yeah
um I personally use think about more yeah but what what about you I think about I use think
about more for sure when when I think of the word think of it sometimes gosh can't get out of it
it has a in many cases it has a more nostalgic or like a a longing to it right I'm thinking of this
person right um or I'll think of you the next time I go to this restaurant right that's a bit
of a Nostalgia interpersonal thing a bit dreamier there's a there's a dreamy aspect to think of not
for everything but when I just snap my fingers and I say What's the difference between think of and
think about I think it's a little dreamier think of I like that that's cute Lindsay well thank you
no I like I like the word dreamy I mean yeah yeah yeah I love it so but I agree with you it could be
a little less active maybe you have a little less agency let's go through the examples and see if
this is true okay so here we go uh what do you think of this dress yeah so this is an opinion
also a way that think of applies is in applying an opinion what do you think of this but you know
Michelle in this case it's interchangeable what do you think about this dress I would say both
right right right right I think both are fine as well as in the next example right we talked about
this one already I'm thinking of moving abroad or I'm thinking about moving abroad yeah so I
think they both sound natural let's see is there any difference in feeling I'm thinking of moving
up I think they're really the same I would not there's as we've said before there's no
material difference that's a great business term right there's no important and like something we
need to pay attention to right the next one is goes to kind of the dreaminess of think of I
think of the possibilities like imagine the possibilities now would you say think about
the possibilities I think this one is more think of I I like that dreaminess idea yeah
um and yeah and like yeah if I said think okay if I said think about the possibilities you could
like it's more I could say that but it might be that I'm literally like sitting down with you and
planning something exactly whereas if I say think of the possibilities it's almost more of like a
chunk of an expression where it's just like oh imagine what could happen in your life exactly
and it's a little more rooted in kind of fantasy dreaming ideas possibilities so I think that's you
know as we're going through and I'm thinking about the differences between the two I think that's the
key difference between think about think of in many cases they're the same but in some cases
think of has a broader more uh big thinking aspect or a longing like a dreaminess a longing so and
as I mentioned before you know we said this example Michelle I'll think of you the next
time I go to the restaurant to this restaurant or I'm thinking of this person it makes me think
of like unrequited love or like your partner is abroad and you can't be with them it's just
I don't know a feeling of just dreaming a bit yeah yeah yeah I like I like it
um so let's do a role play okay um and you know we can talk through it afterwards so Lindsay we're
friends and we're deciding what we should do today all right there's a new Museum exhibit downtown
what do you think about checking it out uh I think it's gonna be too crowded hmm maybe you're right
uh I'm thinking about taking a quick run sorry it's okay I'm tripping over myself I'm thinking
about taking a quick run wanna join nah I'm tired but think of me when you run by that Bakery maybe
pick me up a snack okay sure all right and so that's it let's start with that when we go back
and analyze this role play why did we not say think about me when you run by that Bakery yeah
because it is that more like nostalgic feeling that dreamy feeling Lindsay was talking about
even though it is just about a bakery but still it is like a person actually there's a song in the
um in the Phantom of the Opera I think it is oh okay think of me yeah and perfect perfect example
actually really good example Michelle because that song I'm willing to bet I don't know it but
I'm willing to bet it would never be titled think about me right it would only be the title think
of me because it's dreamy it's about a person it's nostalgic it's feeling oriented a little bit more
feeling oriented not always but when we do when we say think about where it's more practical we're
choosing things things are in front of us they're logical yeah yeah yeah yeah um so um I'm let's
yeah oh wait so let's go through yeah it's okay um we'll do the next one so I'm thinking about
taking a quick run now in this case that you have choices of how you could spend your Saturday you
could go have a coffee you could go take a run so these are real options right thinking about you're
considering considering it exactly right right right so we're going backwards yeah we're going
backwards okay okay all right here we go and then I said I think it's going to be too crowded I want
to say I I'm thinking about it's going to be no no not it right it's just this is what I think it's
more General yeah and I think our listeners you guys at your level you know right that you can't
insert of or about there that's just processing logical information I believe it's going to be
too crowded right that's what that is and then the last one or the first one we said what do
you think about checking it out right what do you think about checking it out now in this case
could you say what do you think of checking it out versus what do you think about checking it
out do we feel like that could be interchangeable I like thinking about for this but yeah what do
you what's your it feels a little awkward when I say what do you think of checking it out it's just
hard to say that yeah but I think that this would be opinions right what do you think of this dress
that's okay right yeah so giving opinions I think is a time when it's interchangeable yeah right
right right right yeah exactly so oh my gosh well we went through it backwards but we just did it's
okay we like to mix it up here Michelle what's a takeaway for our listeners Juan had a really good
question and hopefully you know what's the final message for our listeners about think of and think
about okay well we were talking about you know that think of is a more dreamy more nostalgic
think about it could be generally more about more options or actively ruminating over something guys
there's a lot of things we could I'd talk over with this whole thing and specific things but
the main thing is to listen when you're out in society listen because people are always thinking
something thinking of something or thinking about something all the time and we use these oh we use
all of these pretty frequently so you will hear them so just really uh think about when you hear
it what what are those differences why do you think this person used one over the other oh it's
so true Michelle guys this is kind of you know a difference that we've just come up with here you
know this this idea of think of is sometimes like we said used in the more dreamy nostalgic bigger
ideas kind of situation and to think about more practical choices uh everyday life but it's not
always true there are sometimes when you could interchange them and that's totally fine too so
what you have to do now guys go out into the world observe and find patterns that's the key right
right right right exactly love it so all right great question and yeah yeah guys thank you for
listening yeah Michelle have a good day I'll talk to you soon take care okay bye [Music] foreign
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