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i have questions that i hope someone could help

jianer666

jianer666

China

hi i hope someone could help me with my question below.

 i can't seem to understand exactly the difference between:

what do u think of  this moive?

and 

what do u think about this moive?

 i'll thank u in advance if u could tell me more about how to use "about""of"appropriately!

03:08 PM Nov 06 2007 |

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gkisseberth

Germany

 i can't seem to understand exactly the difference between:

what do u think of  this moive?

and 

what do u think about this moive?

 

They have the same meaning in this case. The questioner wants to know your opinion about the movie (or of the movie)

We don't normally use any other prepositions other than about or of after the verb think.

Incorrect:  What do you think to the movie?  What do you think in the movie?    etc.

               

10:50 PM Nov 06 2007 |

BRHOM

BRHOM

Syrian Arab Republic

I would like to help you but i don't no sorry

12:05 AM Nov 07 2007 |

king2009

king2009

Kuwait

you can find the answer in these webs:

http://www.bedava-ingilizce.com/prepositions/verb_pre.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/verb_preposition.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page6.shtml

07:41 AM Nov 07 2007 |

327626361

327626361

China

they are seem to be same

09:08 AM Nov 07 2007 |

vivian wu

vivian wu

China

Take it easy. Just regard them as the same.

10:45 AM Nov 08 2007 |

EnglishteacherDave

Ireland

I would agree that they are the same in meaning, however, in England there is a subtle difference between them.

 

What do you think of this movie?


This would be considered more causal and would be widely used

 

Whereas


What do you think about this movie?

 

This would be considered a little more formal and would not be used in daily conversation

05:29 PM Nov 09 2007 |

jianer666

jianer666

China

thanks a lot ,Dave.that was exaxtly what i want to know!!

06:07 PM Nov 09 2007 |

gkisseberth

Germany

Dave has a good point. In American English, there's not that much of a difference in the meaning. 

Be aware, that since American's love to be lazy with their speech, you could hear

"Whataya think uh this movie?"  

whataya = what do you

think uh = think of 

08:47 PM Nov 09 2007 |

EnglishteacherDave

Ireland

I would also suggest the following in British English

“What do you think of this movie?” – this is good in informal situations.

However, if you really want to be good in formal situations I suggest using this construction:

"What is your opinion of something?" or "what is your opinion regarding something?"

So look at our movie sentence again. as a movie is an informal thing, something we do in our free time, then we could say to friends/colleagues.

"Last night I saw the movie Harry Potter, what did you think of it?"

While in the office you might say

"What was your opinion of Dave's presentation?"

-

Like Gkissbert said Americans can be lazy in their pronunciation, and here in the UK its no different so no matter where you go you should tune your ear!

Speaking of differences I note that Jianer used the word movie and this reminded me of a difference in the use of the word “movie” in my home country, so if you go to Ireland, everyone will understands the word “movie” when you speak to them, but be prepared because when most people in Ireland talk about movies they use the word film instead!

For example a typical Irish English construction would be:

“Dave, tonight I am going to see a film, do you want to come?”

Which means…

“Dave, tonight I am going to see a movie, do you want to come?”

There are lots of different meanings of the same words when we look at the difference between British English, Irish English, American English, Canadian English, Australian English and New Zealand English”, but that’s another post!

If you want to learn a bit more check out my blog:

http://english-lessons-on-line.blogspot.com/

01:49 PM Nov 10 2007 |

jianer666

jianer666

China

i don't know how to thank you ,u r such a big help!!!  i wonder why i never met good english teacher like u in my class before.then my english would be a lot better if uwere. it's shame,but i can't load the link above ,dave ,are u sure ur blog address is right ?

05:49 AM Nov 11 2007 |