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The everyday word “thing” has various acceptable uses in formal writing
USABILITY OF “THING” IN FORMAL CONTEXTS
It is easy to believe that the noun thing is not suitable in formal writing. If it is not considered too vague – an easy escape from the effort of trying to find a more descriptive word – it can seem very informal, more associated with spoken than written English.
It is certainly true that spoken English has some very informal uses of thing that would be unlikely to occur in formal writing. It can, for example, follow an adjective to express an emotion about something, e.g. stupid thing! (showing anger), or even about someone, e.g. you poor thing (showing sympathy). The common introductory phrase The thing is, … directs attention to a central problem after preliminary discussion related to it. Things often means “personal possessions”.
Yet a quick computer search of formal writing extracts shows that thing is surprisingly common there too. The uses are not unique to this kind of English, but seem to mostly form a subset of those in spoken English. They again tend to do more than just refer to something whose exact name is unknown or forgotten. Moreover, a fair number are similarly able to occur in various fairly fixed and idiomatic phrases. They are thus very deserving of a post in this blog.
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SPECIAL SITUATIONS INVOLVING “THING”
Outside of fixed phrases, thing has a variety of uses.
1. Placing an Adjective in a Noun Position
(a) The important thing is to note the smell.
In some other languages, the underlined subject of is here could be expressed with just an adjective after a word meaning “the” (*The important is…). English does sometimes allow lone adjectives after the, but it is quite rare. Thing is one of various nouns that are commonly combined with an adjective to make it usable in a noun position. Other nouns – if the meaning so requires – include part (less formally, bit), person and point (see the end of 102. Adjectives with no Noun 2: Thing-Naming). One could also use what – what is (ADJ) is… – but a noun like thing prevents repetition of is.
Another way thing combines with adjectives is after BE or similar in place of the same adjective by itself, e.g. …is a good thing instead of …is good. This modification is grammatically possible because the position after verbs like BE – the so-called “complement” one – allows both noun and adjective expressions (see 220. Features of Complements).
The adjectives used with a…thing in the complement position often seem to represent a permanent rather than temporary quality. As a result, they seem less likely to be describing the speaker just at the time of speaking: whereas …is good implies “good for me now”, …is a good thing implies “inherently good”. Common alternatives to good include amazing, bad, different, frightening, interesting, puzzling, real, strange, surprising, terrible, the same and useful.
Not every noun is describable as a … thing in this way. There is a need for the noun’s meaning to be conceivable as a “thing”. This rules out such noun meanings as humans (where a possible replacement for thing is often person), materials (= stuff), locations (= place), and dates (= time). However, there are many abstract nouns that can be described as a…thing, such as justice or life.
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2. Replacing Something, Anything, Everything or Nothing
One situation where thing might be preferred to one of these words is when it has a special meaning:
(b) Some thing in the water is causing illness.
Here, something would just mean “an unidentified entity”, but separating the two words leaves some still meaning “unidentified” (see 256. Unusual Meanings of Familiar Words, # 1), but makes thing mean “nasty entity”. For more examples like this, see the end of 26. One Word or Two?
Alternatively, using thing by itself often enables something to be said about the “thing” in question that could not be said if it was combined with some- etc.:
(c) One further thing can be said about efforts to find a vaccine.
(d) No single thing explains why some people learn languages better than others.
In (c), thing has the ability that something lacks to link with one in order either to emphasize “not more than one” or to signal that more detail follows (see 263. Uses of “One” and “Ones”). In (d), no…thing has the ability that nothing lacks to link with single meaning “lone”. Single thing is also common after every to emphasize “without exception”.
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3. Replacing Forward-Looking “What”
When the pronoun what is not a question word, it means “the thing which”. One of its uses is at the start of a sentence, representing an idea at the end that is being highlighted as the main information being conveyed (see 145. Highlighting with “What” Sentences):
(e) What (= The thing which) the world does not need is an economic crisis.
It is the fact that what includes the idea of “thing” in its meaning that again enables thing (+ visible or understood which) to be used instead.
When thing (which) is preferred to what, a major reason seems again to be a need to add description that could not grammatically accompany what. For example, the one thing (which) in (e) would emphasise the extreme nature of an economic crisis, a thing (which) would signal the existence of other “things”, and one thing (which) would imply that an economic crisis was being mentioned as a part of a list (see 122. Signpost Words in Multi-Sentence Lists).
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4. Enabling Repetition of Something
In the following, thing is the best means of repeating something:
(e) If something is causing discomfort, and if that exact thing is taking time to be identified, then pain relief can be administered.
Here, many writers would feel unhappy about saying something again, but would find the standard alternative – the pronoun it – difficult to use because of the need to combine it with exact. The problem is overcome by saying that…thing instead.
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FIXED EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING “THING”
The dividing line between likely in formal writing and unlikely can sometimes be uncertain. One fixed expression that I would definitely rule out is things like that. Slightly more formal is things of that kind, but more formal still is suchlike.
Fixed thing expressions that seem fairly possible in formal writing include the following:
5. for one thing
This usually acts as a “connector” (see 259. Multi-Word Connectors). In other words, it shows how its sentence is related logically to the surrounding ones. The relation it shows is “reason for what has just been said”. It is thus a synonym of this is because, but what distinguishes it is a suggested existence of other reasons, which may or may not also be given (see 306. Ways of Giving a Reason, #4). Any that do follow are often introduced by for another (thing).
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6. …is the real thing
This says something is not a fake or copy. An occasional more formal equivalent is …is the genuine article.
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7. to make things worse
This is usually added parenthetically to a sentence near its start to warn that a bad addition to a bad situation is going to be mentioned. Things is similar in meaning to matters, and is sometimes replaced by it. For more on parenthetical to verbs, see the end of 183. Statements between Commas.
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8. …is a thing of the past
This means “does not exist now” or “is out of date”. Thing is pronoun-like, just representing the subject of is, while of the past has an adjective-like role. A few other nouns can replace the past, such as beauty and wonder.
9. no such thing
This is a more emphatic way of saying nothing of that kind. A common use is after there is… to deny the existence of something represented by a neighbouring noun. If this noun is mentioned next, there is normally as in between:
(f) There is no such thing as a unicorn.
Another common use is as the object of DO. This both expresses a refusal and implies that the refused request is outrageous.
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10. all things considered
This is a sentence-spanning adverbial expression similar in meaning to on balance. In other words, it says that an accompanying assertion is being made after weighing up multiple points supporting and opposing it:
(g) All things considered, the world is a better place now than 100 years ago.
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11. it is a good thing (that)…
This expression might be used as follows:
(h) It is a good thing that the company kept supplies in reserve.
The message in such sentences is more than just that something is (or was) good: usually the reason why will be apparent too, either through the situation where the words are uttered or through some subsequent explanatory words like …because demand is heavier than expected.
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12. thing(s) to do
Thing(s) is often used before the to (infinitive) form of DO and certain other common verbs (ASK, CONSIDER, HAVE, KNOW, SEE). Like most other nouns in this position, it is usually the object of the to verb, and this verb carries the idea of “can” or “must” (see 239. Nouns Combined with a “to” Verb).
The plural things usually implies a list. Perhaps a reason for using it rather than a more precise word like jobs or points is that some lists are too varied to fit exactly under headings like these. The singular thing often follows a superlative adjective like the best, the easiest, the main or the quickest.
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13. things are better if/when…
In this use, things means “the situation”. Better is not the only possible comparative adjective, common alternatives being different, easier and worse.
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14. of all things
This adjectival phrase often expresses surprise:
(i) Insulation of some Arctic houses is with ice of all things.
Here, of all things directly follows the noun it describes (ice). It could also start the sentence (with a following comma).
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15. is one thing, but…
This combination says that the idea after but is much more problematic than the one before:
(j) Going to the moon is one thing, but Mars is something else.
The second half of such sentences tends to be formulaic. Alternatives to the underlined words include …is quite another and …requires much more.
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