Monday, August 15, 2011

though, although, thought, thou

Though or though ( rhymes with go ) means however; in spite of the fact that--
He didn't win, though he tried very hard.
She wouldn't stay for dinner, though she likes spaghetti.

Although or although means the same as though--however, or in spite of the fact that--
We all chipped in for a cake, although it wasn't anyone's birthday.
He seemed depressed, although we won the game.

Thought or thought ( rhymes with caught ) is the past tense (yesterday, or some time ago ) form of "think"--
I thought the weather would be nice today.
I thought our team would win.
Thought or thought can also be a noun ( thing or idea), meaning  mental processes or activity (thinking)--
A penny for your thoughts.
Perish the thought!
I never gave it a thought.
Our thoughts are with you.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"I thought it would rain, although the sun was shining."

 Note--"thou"( rhymes with now ) is an old-fashioned word meaning "you" . It is still in the dictionary, as all archaic words are, so that we can find out the meaning of the words in old books. It is also still an appropriate translation, in some ways, of  one of the forms of "you" used in some foreign languages. Our language, English, only has one way left to say "you"--the others--thou, thee, ye--are archaic or old-fashioned. Some languages have more than one way to say "you"--including one that is only used for members of one's household, or intimate friends. Someone might translate this as "thou"--but it wouldn't really fit, as in English, "thou" merely denotes a story set long ago, or perhaps a Biblical reference. There really is no translation for a familiar form of address, or a way to convey this meaning when that is what the author intended--and the author might have intended to show that someone was inappropriately or offensively being too familiar with someone else.


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