A Dictionary of Cont..

think 510
you think for and as much as he thought for.
Today this for is often dropped, as in more than
you think, perhaps out of fear of “ending a sentence
with a preposition.” This usage is so widespread
that it cannot be called anything but
standard, but it strikes the ears of anyone familiar
with literary English as a clipped phrase
that has been stopped before it was finished.
An old verb meaning “it seems” or “it appears”
has become merged with the verb think. It is
seen in such statements as I think it’s going to
rain. When used in this sense, the long form of
the present tense with thinking, as in you’re a
good woman, I’m thinking, is a Scottish or Irish
idiom and not standard English. In most cases it
is impossible to say which verb the speaker intended.
I am thinking it is going to rain may
mean that he is turning this thought over in his
mind, in which case the construction is thoroughly
acceptable. In the United States, guess.
reckon, and sometimes calculate, are used for
this sense of the verb think.
The same old verb survives in thinks I. This
is not in a class with says I, partly because it has
a literary background but chiefly because it is
not heard so constantly in the speech of uneducated
people. Methinks is the same verb in its
purest form, but this is now obsolete. It is used
today only by people who believe they can create
a Walter Scott atmosphere with half a dozen
words.
think; deem; judge; suppose. Think is the general
word for forming or having a thought or
opinion (I think; therefore I am. I think that I
shall never see/ A poem lovely as a tree). Judge
suggests a careful balance of reason and evidence
and a judicial detachment in arriving at a
conclusion (Do not judge me by my appearante).
It is used a little pompously as a synonym
for think by those who believe, or would like
to suggest, that their slightest opinions are
reached in judicial detachment only after weighing
evidence and consulting reason (I judge it’ll
take us about half an hour to get these potatoes
peeled). Deem meant originally to pronounce
judgment or to sit in judgment (As ye deme, ye
shall be demed). It is cognate with doom and
is the base of the family name Dempster. In
modern use it is a formal synonym of judge,
with a fine antique flavor suitable for commencement
exercises, political orations, elegies,
editorials, and other places and pronounceme s
where clarity and ease are to be avoided 7I
deem it an honor to be asked to speak before
so distinguished a group. We deem that in these
troubled times . . .). To suppose is to have an
opinion that seems justified (I suppose he knows
what he’s doing) but which we are not willing
to back up as a definite conviction. See also
calculate, consider, feel.
third person singular. This is the form of the verb
used whenever the subject is singular and is not
either of the pronouns you or I. In the usual
analysis of verb forms, the third person singular
seems to be only one out of six forms. But in
actual practice this is the form of the verb used
most often. In a typical page of written material
more than half the verbs are in the third person
singular.
this; that. These words may be used as demonstrative
adjectives which qualify a following
noun, as in this young child, or without a following
noun as demonstrative pronouns, as in
that tastes good. In general, this indicates what
is close, and that what is distant in relation to
the sneaker. This is always singular and has the
plural form these. When used as a demonstrative,
that too is always singular and has the
plural form those. (For the use of that as a
conjunction, see that; for its use as a relative
pronoun, see that; which.)
All four words are used, primarily, in speaking
about something that can be seen or pointed at,
as in this is my brother and is that you? They are
also used to represent something that has just
been said. This may be a single word or it may
be an idea that required several sentences to express.
The word that is preferred when an exact
repetition of what has just been said is intended,
as in I’ll repent, and that suddenly. The word this
is preferred when the reference is less specific.
It is often used as a summarizing word and
means “all that has just been said.”
This and these are also used to represent
words that are to follow. In this construction
the reference is usually specific, as in this above
all, to thine own self be true and we hold these
truths to be self-evident: That all men are created
equal; that. . . . That and those may be
used in speaking of something that is not immediately
present and has not been mentioned before,
but the reference is usually vague. As a
rule, explanatory words follow immediately, as
in that which is hardest to bear and those who
say such things. That followed by a relative pronoun
is frequently replaced by what. (See what.)
In current English those is preferred to they
or them when used with a defining word or
phrase, as in those present, those in the basket,
those he sent. The adjective those may also be
used generically to indicate an entire class of
things, as in those large police dogs are very
intelligent.
The words this and that may be used in identifying
a human being, as in do you see that
woman crossing the street and that child looks
sick. When there is no need, or no intention, of
identifying, the words are derogatory, as in that
woman!, this son of yours. That seems to be
stronger than this as an expression of contempt;
those can occasionally be used in this way, as in
those Joneses!, but these never is.
This and that are sometimes used to show
“how much.” It is unquestionably standard English
to use this or that before much or many
when these words are standing alone, as in I
know this much and I did not think there were
that many. Here much and many are interpreted
as nouns and this and that as adjectives. But
when much or many is used before a noun it becomes
an adjective and this and that, in turn,
adverbs of degree, as in to whom he owed this