Thoughts On or Thoughts About – Which Is Correct?

When it comes to the English language, knowing which expression is the proper one to use can be a tough thing to tell. Should you say “thoughts on”? Or is “thoughts about” more appropriate? This article will answer these questions and present you with examples to clear things up.

Thoughts On or Thoughts About – Which Is Correct?

Both “thoughts on” and “thoughts about” are valid and correct English expressions. “Thoughts on” is used to talk about thinking about something in the background while you are doing something else. “Thoughts about” is used to talk about giving something deep thought, and really thinking about it.

Both expressions can be interchangeable with each other, depending on the context. However, that doesn’t mean that they have the same definition. One shouldn’t forget that they technically refer to different things.

Thoughts On

“Thoughts on” is a slightly antiquated expression that is used to talk about the action of thinking about something while doing something else. It’s an expression used to refer to the idea of multitasking, and you can find it used in a lot of old-school texts, such as the Bible.

“Thoughts on” can be a really valuable expression because it allows you to talk about a part of the human experience that we all live through, which is doing something and thinking about something else.

Here are a few example sentences that will showcase how you can use “thoughts on” on your own:

1. Share your thoughts on the project when you get the chance, because I’m really curious.
2. Do you have any thoughts on what we should be doing anytime soon?
3. I have been thinking on the issue while I cleaned my house, and I have a solution.
4. I thought on this matter for a while, as I took care of a few work initiatives I had to handle.
5. My thoughts on the situation are not exactly kind, but it really is quite the disaster they’ve made.

Thoughts About

“Thoughts about” is a really powerful expression, as it refers to the action of someone sitting down and thinking about one thing or issue exclusively. You make sure that you’re giving the issue all of the brainpower and attention that it might need, staying in deep thought as necessary.

When you use “thoughts about”, you’re referring to someone who really contemplated an issue. The expression is reserved for people who are thinking the hardest they can about the issue itself.

These are a few example sentences we’ve created to help you figure out how to use “thoughts about”:

1. What are your thoughts about what we should do once school is finally out for the summer?
2. I thought about this for an entire week, really burning my brain trying to come up with the answer.
3. I was thinking about you last night and then you texted me, which was an odd sort of situation.
4. You should really think about what we’ll do next year when this contract finally runs out, ok?
5. Thinking about this project’s development should be the priority of all of us in the design team.

Which Is Used the Most?

According to information provided by the Google Ngram Viewer, historically speaking “thoughts on” has been fairly more popular than “thoughts about”. However, over the years, “thoughts about” has slowly climbed up the charts and nearly reached “thoughts on” in popularity. However, it’s never quite gotten there.

In fact, if you analyze the chart you can tell that the year 2012 was when “thoughts about” came the closest to surpassing “thoughts on” in popularity, though it was just a fluke.

Final Thoughts

Both “thoughts on” and “thoughts about” are valid expressions. They both refer to somewhat different ideas. “Thoughts on” talks about multitasking, thinking about something while you do something else. “Thoughts about” refers to deep thoughts.