think, I think, I don't think
I use "think", "I think" and "I don't think" in my writing a lot. Can you suggest a few ways to reduce it and few alternative ways of saying the same thing?
Look at the below sentences I have written. These are just few examples, I use them a lot. Average two or three "think" in one page.
- Why do you think about that?
- I think you can do it.
- But I think you got to take some rest.
- Do you think you can break that?
- I don't think so.
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2 answers
In some of them you can just drop the "I think." You can also use dialect, slang, or regionalisms.
You can do it.
In my opinion, you can do it.
You really should take a break.
You really should get some rest.
Can you break that?
Betcha can't break that.
Not in my book.
Not on my block!
Can't see it from my house!
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Lucile Vaughan Payne's classic guide to the essay, The Lively Art of Writing, calls out "I think" specifically as weak writing. Now, it's been nearly 30 years years since I read this estimable guide, but to the best of my recollection, she says that writing "I think" is akin to saying timidly, "What I think isn't very important, but anyway what I think is..."
State your opinions forthrightly, without "weasel words." This has three benefits:
- It demonstrates respect for the reader. The reader can be relied upon to recognize an opinion and to know that it is the author's without being reminded constantly, making it a waste of everyone's time to state this explicitly.
- It doesn't continually remind the author that he or she is reading, drawing them out of the piece and giving them the opportunity to turn their valuable attention elsewhere.
- It provides your opinions with more rhetorical force, implying that, even though they are obviously opinions, you have thought them through sufficiently that they may as well be facts. Of course, for this to hold up in the reader's mind, this implication should be true!
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/7967. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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