ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Is there a difference between stuff and thing

Slacker11 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:47:14 GMT

Thank you very much

Re: Is there a difference between stuff and thing

Hoa Thai — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:36:32 GMT

Hi,

First, stuff is uncountable noun, while thing is a countable noun.

We use stuff to intrinsically talk about unidentified mass of thing(s) / substances / materials.
We use thing to extrinsically address items we can discreetly identified in terms of quantity / measurements.

Is there a difference between stuff and thing

Slacker11 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:10:45 GMT

Hello everyone,

I am a Brazilian student, I really like studying English.
Well, I figured out that mother-tongue influence really can put a thing on the barbecue. So, I can't see any difference, in usage, between "stuff" and "thing". Is there a one?

For example, from google's dictionaries:

STUFF
material: the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object; "coal is a hard black material"; "wheat is the stuff they use to ...

THING
an artifact; "how does this thing work?"

Thanks in advance