Phrasal Verb Fun

think
(think, thought, thought)
What we do with our brains.
think about
To consider something.
'What are you thinking about?'
'What to buy my father for Christmas.'

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Or to have an opinion
'What do you think about Julio Iglesias?
'I think he's wonderful.'
Grammar note. Think about in the sense of 'have an opinion' can never be
in a continuous tense.
We have the best government that money can buy. Think about it.
Think of
is similar to think about, but not exactly the same.
If we want to talk about thinking that takes time, we have to say think
about.
Inseparable two-word verb
No problem.
think back
'Think back to when you were six years old,' said the psychiatrist. 'What
do you remember?'
Deliberately remember. After a verb,
back
almost always has the sense
of 'return'
Two-word verb without an object
No problem.
think of
'Every time I hear that song, I think of my first boyfriend.'
'That is a very selfish man. He never thinks of other people."
When we use think of we can also use
think about
, but not the other way
round. Think about is thinking carefully. It takes time.
Inseparable two-word verb
No problem.
think over
It was Leap Day, February 29th, and Georgina asked George to marry
her He said he would think it over..
This time,
over
means 'from one side to the other'. Think it over means 'to
think carefully about something from every direction' before coming to a
decision.
Compare this with
talk over
.
Think through
has a similar meaning.
Separable two-word verb
Careful.
think through

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'Is this the right solution to your legal problems, Mr Bowen?'
'I don't know. I'll have to think it through.'
When you have a serious problem, if feels as if you are in it. And some
problems we just have to think through. We have to think
through
the
problem, and
come up with
a solution. It is a similar idea when we
get
through
a lot of work. This means something much more deliberate than
think about
or
think of
.
Think over
has a similar meaning, but more about the thinking. Thinking
through means arriving at a conclusion.
Think of
Sherlock Holmes and his
three-pipe problems.
Separable two-word verb
. Careful.
think up
Mr O'Connor loved new technologies. He enjoyed seeing what designers
could think up.
Sometimes in the old days we must have imagined that our minds lived in
our stomachs. (Remember
bring up
in the sense of vomit.) Well, you can
certainly bring up a new idea into the conversation.
Also, you can think
up
an idea. It means exactly the same as
come up
with
.
Separable two-word verb
. Be careful.