Thing
We use the general nounthingmore commonly in speaking than in writing.
It is most commonly used to refer to physical objects, but we also usethingto refer to ideas, actions and events:
What’s thatthingover there in the car park?
She always says that she hasn’t athingto wear.
Can you put yourthingsin the upstairs room?(thingshere = personal belongings)
Anger is a very dangerousthingin a young man.
So don’t rush him. Thesethingstake time and we certainly don’t want to upset him.
A holiday? That’s just thethingfor you.
A:Hi Geoff. How’sthings?(How’s thingsis a common informal greeting.)
B:Fine, thanks. How are you?
We often usethingin a similar way towh-cleft constructions (What we need to do is…). It is also often used withtoand withthat-clauses (underlined):
Thethingwe need to know iswhy they missed the train.
Thethingthey said that we shouldn’t forget wasto take a boat trip on the lake.
The bestthingto do isto phone the doctor at once.
Thethingthat worries me most isthe cost of the holiday.
In speaking, we commonly use the phrasethe thing is. We use it when we want to focus on something, or to indicate that there is a problem:
The thing is… erm … we don’t have time to visit New York as well as Washington.
Yeah, that’s OK, butthe thing is, he still hasn’t apologised for being late.
Thingis an example of vague language. It allows speakers not to sound too direct. We often usethingin phrases such asthings like that,that kind of thing:
They’re cooking lots of different Italian and Spanish dishes andthings likethat.
When I worked in a newspaper office, there wasn’t time for eating lunch orthat kind of thing, you know.
We also usethingto show both positive (usually affectionate) and negative attitudes, mainly when accompanied by appropriate adjectives:
Our cat is too old now to leave the house, poorthing.
You luckything! I wish I had the chance to visit New Zealand.
A:You’re going to get paint on that dress. Why don’t you get changed?
B:It doesn’t matter. It’s just an oldthing.
See also:
Cleft sentences (It was in June we got married.)
Vague expressions
Stuff
Stuffis one of the most common nouns in speaking. It is more informal thanthing. It is not at all common in writing.
Stuffis an uncountable noun. We usestuffin similar ways tothing, especially in vague language phrases such asstuff like that:
Where can we put ourstuff?(our belongings) (very similar to, but more informal than,Where can we put our things?)
She didn’t have much advice to offer. She just told us to learn lots of new English vocabulary andstuff like that.
See also:
Kind ofandsort of
Sort,typeandkind
Vague expressions
The thing,the one thing,something