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 intimate. If you believe that something was one way or another, you still believe, but it is in an object, not in a person. 

You believe that what I say is correct.

You believe in something, but it isn't me. You believe in what I say, not in me.

You believe in my words.

Yet, we can change it to say that you believe in my words. This means you don't necessarily believe in me, but you do believe in my words. The meaning is the same as the first example, but I changed the word that to in.

But can you feel the difference of involvement. If you believe that I am correct, it feels less emotionally involved. If you believe in my being correct, it feels as if there is more trust and emotion. What about believe on?

Believe On

This version is hardly ever seen or heard of. However, it does get used. Believe on is used to imply religious trust, obedience and faith. It is rare and usually only seen in the older texts. This being said, you will be hard pressed to see this in modern texts.

So, Is It Believe In, Believe On or Believe That

In conclusion, each of these have their place. Where there is no solid answer, there is a fine line as to involvement with the statement. If you are a writer and you want to impart a certain feel into the scene, it is wise to know which to use to bring out the correct emotion within the reader.

For more involvement, I recommend using believe in. For a more distant approach, use believe that. Lastly, believe on can be used for religious texts or if you want to create an old feel with your text. Just be aware that if you use believe on in a school or work situation, it might not be accepted with open arms.

Comment and let me know what your thoughts are on believe in and believe that.

Photo credit to Pixabay photographer.