THINK - Basic Verbs - Learn English Grammar

what now have you ever thought about how much

you think about thinking hi everybody my name is Alisha 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 some thing 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 thanks 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 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

so in these examples sentences can I have a day to think about this taking

one day to reflect on something like before you make a decision is 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 a 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 the verb think we thought up so many

crazy party ideas in college she thought up a plan for product promotion so 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 so 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 planned 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 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 so 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 for the listener was going to arrive later

than they actually did so the speaker 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 with I 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

so in this way think we're in past tense thought is used in exactly the same way

as expected here the next meaning is to consider suitability 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 so 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 so you'll notice that the two example

sentences included here are related to work you'll see though that this this

meaning tends to be used a lot with jobs and mu political positions so 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 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 a an improved

decision examples I wanted to say something but I thought better of it and

kept my mouth shut will 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 the action I initially wanted to do in the second sentence will think

better of you if you tell the truth we see it's 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 will consider you again essentially and our opinion of you will improve if

you do this the next variation is think much of 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

so 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

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check us out at English class 101.com for other good things too thanks very

much for watching this episode of know your verbs and I will see you again soon

oh I think that your thought about my thought is the thinking thought what

this episode is I'm thinking about summer