Think of & think about

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Daxiaoaixad  #206515  Wed, 15 Mar 06 08:22 PM
Hi all of you,

what is the difference of the two sentences:

* What do you think about/of it?
* What are you thinking about?

  
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Goodman  #206519  Wed, 15 Mar 06 08:50 PM

* What do you think of it? Means what is your take on something or opinion about it.
* What are you thinking about? Means "what is on your mind".

Preposition can alter the verb and the meaning of a sentence greatly.

  
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paco2004  #206664  Thu, 16 Mar 06 09:07 AM

Hi Daxi

Goodman well explained about the semantic difference of the two sentences. I'd like to add some grammatical difference between the two.


[1]What do you think about/of it?
Here "think" (=deduce, infer) is a transitive verb and "what" is the direct object of "think". And "about/of it" could be taken as an adverbial phrase to indicate the range of "think" or the material of "think".

[2] What are you thinking about?
Here "think" (=mediate, ponder) is an intransitive verb. "What" is the object of the preposition "about".

paco

  
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