Skip to main content

Grammar Geek: Should I Use Believe or Belief?

Should I use believe or belief? This question can keep you from writing that last sentence for the day. It can be so irritating when you're tired and almost done with your work, but that one word is making your head spin. From now on, you should never need to wonder whether you should use believe or belief ever again.


To Believe

I believe that at the end of this post, you will have a better understanding of the word believe. Look at the next sentence:
I believe in aliens.
If you believe in something, you are doing an action. When a word takes on the role of describing an action, that word is a verb. This means that believe is a verb. Change believe in in the above sentence to a different verb, such as chase.
I chase aliens.
All you need to do is substitute a verb in a sentence with believe or belief. If the sentence sounds strange to you, you probably used the wrong one. For example:
I belief in aliens.
That hardly makes any sense, right? Just say the sentence out loud with the right pronunciation to hear whether it sounds right or wrong.

It's a Belief

My belief is not in aliens, but in God. Belief, on the other hand, takes the role of a noun. One of the oldest tricks in the book is to see whether you can put an a or the before the word. If you can, it is a noun. If you can't, continue guessing.
The believe. The belief. A believe. A belief. 
Which one sounds right to you? The belief and a belief are correct. With that being said, the question is the following:

So, Should I Use Believe or Belief?

It's my belief that you will choose the right form of the word. You need to figure out whether the word takes on a verb or noun role in your sentence. Once you know which one is correct. You can easy make these plural as well.
Believe takes believes.
Belief takes beliefs.
 They might both show acceptance, but belief goes an extra mile. It can also mean in accepting truth and having confidence and trust in something or someone.
I believe in you.
That is a vote of confidence. It shows that I accept you, whether it is that I accept you exist or that I accept that you can do a certain task.
My belief is placed in you.
Not only does this sentence sound epic, but it is also packed with meaning. Once again this is a vote of confidence in you. Yet, both can be a lie. Whether my belief in aliens are correct, doesn't matter. What matters is what I do believe.

I hope that seeing these two words in action helped you understand how to use them even better. To me it is about what sounds right. Check whether your word is a verb or noun and choose accordingly. You can always ask me if you struggle to decide!

Photo credit to Pixabay.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it!

Popular posts from this blog

Grammar Geek: Is It Believe In, Believe On or Believe That?

Since last week's post was on believe or belief , I decided to ask whether it's believe in , believe on  or believe that . All of these are correct and do get used. The questions are when, where, why and how. Here it is in what I hope is the simplest way to explain it and the easiest way to remember it. Believe In and Believe That Correlation A certain professor, H. H. Price , came to the conclusion that there is a difference between believe in  and believe that . To him, it came down to this, “Surely belief-in is an attitude to a person, whether human or divine, while belief-that is just an attitude to a proposition?” This makes perfect sense considering the words in and that . Personally, in  sounds a lot more involved and personal, whereas that  seems distant. Get that  away from me. Come on in . That might just be me though. However, this view might make things easier. What if this thinking was indeed the correct manner? To believe in someone is ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grammar Geek: When to Use Who or Whom

When to use who or whom can be either complicated or simplistic. It is always best to know the rules and thus the complicated version before you go for the easy, cheat version. This way, you will know you are right, every time. When to Use Who or Whom: Know your Grammar The complicated version calls for our memories of English grammar classes; those classes we slept through. To know who and whom , you need to know their place in the English language. Welcome back to your English class. Study hard! Who and Whoever: The Subjective Pronouns "Subjective pronouns" sounds more dramatic than it needs to. In a less wordy manner, who and whoever are subjects in a sentence. When I was in school, I was taught that the subject is the one doing the action. The verb of the sentence is this "action". Here are some examples: Who knows the answer? Who will go to class? The purple is the subject, as it is the one doing the action. The action (verb) is in gold. Sadly...
Post a Comment
Read more

Word Wise: Is It Dreamt or Dreamed?

Hmm, is it dreamt or dreamed ? This is once again one of those cases where people can't help but get confused. My spellchecker for one, tells me that dreamt is a spelling mistake. Yet, many of you have heard of both these forms. Both are after all the past tense of dream.  Of Dreams I Dreamt Dreamt  is just as acceptable as dreamed . Merriam Webster has both these forms under dream.  This can be considered as a little strange, as few words have two past tenses. But, even when it is acceptable, dreamt isn't used as much as dreamed . Dreamt  is used about 7 times less in American English than dreamed , whereas dreamt  in British English is used only 2.5 times less than dreamed . See it  here  and  here  on an ngram graph. Still, the point stands that dreamt  drew the short end of the straw. It is clear that it is used more in British English than in American English. Does this make dreamt the British version? I Dreamed...
Post a Comment
Read more