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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Thought or thoughts?

Hi,

I recently saw someone with the following tattoo on her arm:

"Negative thinking is .... a waste of thoughts"

My linguistic gut feeling tells me this could be wrong.

Personally, I would have said: "Negative thinking is a waste of thought"

To me the first merely signifies a collection of thoughts and is, therefore, too narrow. Negative thinking is a waste of thought seems more general and thus covers it in a wider sense, as generalizing often does. To be more precise, it covers the process of thinking rather than its produce; thoughts.

So, my question is really: Is it merely a philosophical discussion or is either of us just plain wrong?

Thanks in advance,

Maarten, The Netherlands.

PS: I'd appreciate it if you could state a source.
  

Top answer

You can imagine thought to be an uncountable concept (singular), or you can imagine a thought as one of many possible countable concepts (plural). Neither is wrong grammatically. You are right to think that 'thought' in that context does give the impression of something more general and wider in sense, so that part of it is, I would say, if not as profound as a philosophical discussion, at least a matter of personal opinions.

— CalifJim

  • You can imagine thought to be an uncountable concept (singular), or you can imagine a thought as one of many possible countable concepts (plural).
  • Neither is wrong grammatically.
  • You are right to think that 'thought' in that context does give the impression of something more general and wider in sense, so that part of it is, I would say, if not as profound as a philosophical discussion, at least a matter of personal opinions.
  • CJ (I am the source.
  • )
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6 Answers
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You can imagine thought to be an uncountable concept (singular), or you can imagine a thought as one of many possible countable concepts (plural). Neither is wrong grammatically.

You are right to think that 'thought' in that context does give the impression of something more general and wider in sense, so that part of it is, I would say, if not as profound as a philosophical discussion,
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Thanks a for your reply. That was exactly what I needed to know, it's both okay. Now the only discussion left is: does it actually read what its meant to say? Language is, as ever, intriguing.
Thanks again!

Maarten.
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Hi Maarten;
My reaction to these:


( a) "Negative thinking is .... a waste of thoughts"

In my opinion, this means that every time my mind creates a negative thought, that thought becomes a waste product.
Perhaps it depletes my mental energy, depreciates my psychological well being, pollutes my aura, or poisons my relationships.

( b) "Negative thinking is ....
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Hi,

So, the consensus is that she should get her tattoo edited?

So should these people. http://ranqit.com/Ranqings/Default.aspx?currentRanqing=tattoo%20spe
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CliveSo, the consensus is that she should get her tattoo edited?
Definitely. Months of painful laser treatments for the sake of grammar.
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To me also. Neither sounds like an utterance that would be considered as fluent. Agreeing? Thanks
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