This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2484, English vocabulary tips you can believe in.
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Do you know the difference between believe and believe in?
Today, find out how different these two words can be and how to use them to build support in your life.
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Hey, Aubrey.
How's it going?
How are you doing today?
I am excellent, Lindsay.
How are you?
I'm feeling good.
Oh my gosh.
What are we talking about today?
I know.
This is going to be interesting.
I first have a question.
I want to know, is there anything you believe in that not everyone does?
Yeah.
I mean, I would say I believe in ghosts.
I believe that you can communicate with the dead in certain situations, if you're talking to the right person.
That has that connection, I guess.
I do believe in that stuff.
I've heard a lot of stories, had a few experiences myself.
So yeah, I believe in that.
Okay.
Interesting.
I do too.
I have also had a couple of experiences, and I think it's fascinating to meet with a psychic or someone who reads tarot cards and And the experience is different every time, but I'm interested in that for sure.
I'm sure a lot of our listeners are, though there are also probably people out there listening who don't believe in that.
And it's just interesting how we, as humans, can have all kinds of different ideas, because none of us knows for sure, right?
It's so true.
None of us knows.
And that's what today's episode is based on, right?
Believing in things or believing things, right?
Yes, we got a great question about this vocabulary.
Let's read this question and I'm excited to dive into it.
All right, here we go.
So our listener says, hi, I'm Julia.
I really love your podcast.
I always listen while walking and time flies.
That's great.
I've learned so much.
Thank you.
I have a question about two phrases that sound similar, but seem to be used differently.
Believe and believe in.
Could you please explain the difference?
Thank you.
What a good question from Julia.
Yes, this really is an excellent question.
I am excited to chat about this today.
But first, be sure to hit follow guys wherever you are listening.
We talk about this interesting vocabulary.
You're also going to hear a little bit about culture today, which we love to get into.
So be sure to hit follow wherever you listen to podcasts.
Yes, hit that follow button.
Let's just break it down very clearly for Julia and our listeners.
First, let's look at believe Aubrey.
What do we need to know?
Yeah, this means to accept something as true or real.
It's used more for belief in ideas or personal opinions.
So a few examples here.
You might say, you know, we believe that all people should be treated with fairness and respect.
So this is an overall belief and opinion that is held.
Or stating kind of an opinion, right?
I believe she's the best person for the job.
It's kind of like saying, I think.
Right.
Exactly.
We use it as a synonym for I think or it is my opinion that we're able to say I believe.
And this is a really interesting way.
Our listeners love to see nuance in words and usages, more nuanced usages.
So let's talk about this one, Aubrey.
Yeah, we also use believe to downplay blame or criticism.
It's a way to sort of add playfulness with the right tone.
And this is an excellent connection skill.
If you want to point out something that has frustrated you but it can come off as critical, we'll often use this language.
Yeah, we're often trying to find that balance when we want to express something but we don't want to ruin a connection.
How do we express it in a softer way?
And this is one of the ways.
And the tone here is important too.
So here's a couple examples, right?
Let's say that you invite someone to your birthday party and they're late, and you know they were late the year before too.
And you want to call them out, but you don't want to make it too awkward.
You want to be a little playful about it.
You could say...
I believe you were late to my party last year as well.
Uh-huh, nice.
And the tone of voice matters there too.
I believe, right?
So it was a little playful.
Because your tone still could be accusatory even with this phrase, but the wording is much more playful and less critical than saying You were late to my party last year too.
And then in a similar theme, you could say something like, I believe you owe me an apology.
So you can play around with how you want to deliver this depending on how direct you want to be.
Exactly.
Right.
But much more direct would just say to Beast to say, you owe me an apology.
But if we add this, I believe we're softening it.
It really does soften.
That is the biggest use for believe, a softener.
It's a sub-use, right?
Yeah, definitely.
For sure.
There are actually quite a few ways we use that.
But it is interesting, these nuances of the language how, if we choose to add, believe like this, it does show care.
The person you're talking to will recognize that you care about the relationship.
You're not trying to be super direct and overtly critical.
And that's how connection builds, right?
So we're always thinking about how our words are going to be received.
That's huge.
That's what we believe here at All Ears English, at least.
Exactly.
And then I want to point out, of course, we'll just say like, I believe you.
If someone's telling us something that maybe we won't believe, if there's a chance they could be deceiving us or lying, say I believe you.
I believe you.
Which to highlight the difference for believe in, which we're going to go into next.
All right.
Let's shift into believe in now, Aubrey.
Now.
So we started the show, the top of the show we talked about.
Is there something you believe in?
Not believe that not everyone does.
So how is it different?
Yeah.
So this is interesting.
You know, when I asked you about that, it's not asking you, is there something you believe?
You might have answered, yes, I believe that people should all be treated equally.
When I ask if there's something you believe in, you know I'm thinking of, like ghosts, something spiritual, something that not everyone believes in, something that might exist or it might not.
Some people believe in it.
Some people don't.
Right.
It's kind of like a I don't want to say a system of thinking, but believing in, like a set of truths, I guess.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The way that we express confidence or faith in something's existence or maybe someone's ability.
If we say like, I believe in you.
Right.
So this implies a deeper level of trust and conviction than simply accepting something as true.
Right.
Just like I agree.
I know that's true.
Right. to believe in someone or believe in a person does imply this deeper feeling.
Yeah.
And it's, these two are very different.
I believe in you and, and yeah, for example, he believes in the supernatural.
I might say I believe in you.
Before someone goes for a job interview or something you know you can do it.
I believe it means like, I believe that you can accomplish this.
I believe that you will be successful.
So if we look at these two phrases, they mean very different things.
If you say, I believe you without the in and It means I believe that you are telling the truth.
I believe that what you have told me is true.
Whereas I believe in you means I have confidence in your ability to do something.
Just those two are completely different.
That's a great contrast right there, right?
Yeah.
And then the second example you shared, he believes in the supernatural.
He believes in God, right?
When we're thinking about something that you have faith in or trust is true that you don't have evidence for, we'll say we believe in that.
Yeah, that's a good qualifier that you don't necessarily have evidence for.
Like that's usually what it is, right?
Right.
That's interesting.
Yeah.
Interesting.
All right.
Really good stuff.
Aubrey, anything else you want to share in terms of believing in things?
Well, I can share something that I know you shared with us, that you believe you can communicate with the dead.
So my husband bought these dowsing rods.
Have you heard of dowsing rods, Lindsay?
I actually had never heard of that at all.
They're also called divining rods.
Oh, my gosh.
They were very popular in the early 1800s in the United States.
They were often used to find wells to find water.
There would be like a person would take this rod out over the land.
And then depending on how it was, they're usually like a metal rod. rod that's sort of L-shaped.
So you hold it and then it can move.
It seems to move on its own sometimes.
And so often that was how wells were found.
People will still use them today and they'll try to sort of become in tune to you know any spiritual forces that might communicate with you.
And then you'll ask questions.
And if the rods cross, it's a yes.
If they go out, it's a no.
You're And then they seem to move on their own because you're just holding them very still.
And so we've used them a few times and it has been very interesting.
I believe in these dowsing rods, that people in my life maybe my ancestors can somehow influence them or move them in order to communicate with us.
It's been pretty fascinating.
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
When you have an experience like that, it's very powerful.
Absolutely.
And then on a lighter note, did you ever play Ouija board when you were a kid?
I never have.
My parents were super opposed, right?
They were like, do not bring that in our house.
I kind of always wanted to.
Did you?
Yeah, we did.
But then I always...
I always thought one of these kids has got to be moving this board.
Someone is moving the board.
You know what I mean?
That feels like if all your hands are on this thing and it seems like okay, somebody's just pushing it.
Right.
For sure.
So fun.
All right.
Good stuff.
We'll take a quick break and then we'll be back for a role play.
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Thank you.
Okay Aubrey, it's role play time, because these two phrases are definitely going to come up quite a bit in good conversations, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So in this role play, you and I are friends and we're talking before a big competition.
Here we go.
All right.
I'll start us out.
You really think we can win tomorrow?
I'm starting to have doubts.
Most definitely.
I believe in our team.
We've trained so hard for this.
That helps.
I guess I believe we can win, but maybe I just don't want to get my hopes up and then be disappointed.
I get it.
But if we're going to have a chance, we need to all believe it's possible and believe in ourselves.
I wish I had your confidence.
Alright, good.
So let's go through this, Aubrey.
So the first thing that was said, I said you said you're having doubts about whether we can win tomorrow.
And I said, most definitely, I believe in our team, right?
Yeah.
So that means you have trust, you have this confidence that we can succeed, right?
So you could say, of course, I believe our team can succeed.
That would be another way to say this.
But if you just say, I believe in our team.
That's this unspoken thing of, I believe we can succeed.
Right.
And just remember, if we say, I believe our team, the meaning completely changes, right?
Because that means the team has said something that we believe to be true.
That's interesting.
If we don't, if we weren't saying like I believe our team can win, if it stops, I believe our team then it's like what did the team?
You know?
Were they interviewed about something they witnessed and you believe what they said was true?
Yes, exactly.
Okay.
What else, Aubrey?
And then I said, I believe we can win.
So that's where, instead of saying I believe in our team, I believe we can win, just means I think we can win.
I do think this is possible.
And then I said, I get it.
But if we're going to have a chance, we need to all believe it's possible and believe in ourselves.
So this shows the two different uses.
Exactly.
The first one really meaning just, I think it's possible.
That is a little stronger, right?
Say, I believe it's possible.
It's a little more than just, I think it's possible.
There's some passion there.
Yes.
It's so true.
I mean, so many sports.
I'm not sure if we're technically playing a sport here in this role play or what we're doing.
I think it was supposed to be a sport, like a team competition, some kind of tournament.
Or maybe like a chess tournament.
But I feel like a lot of sports are just so mental.
Tennis is a good example.
It is such a mental game.
You can beat yourself if you don't believe.
You know if you get in your head.
I know golf is like that.
Um, it's crazy.
Yeah.
For a lot of sports competitions, a lot of things.
It is a lot about the mental and you can very like a lot of people will start.
I do this with volleyball.
I start playing worse.
If I get in my head, if I'm beating myself up over errors, I start playing worse.
It's so true because in volleyball, how many serves do you get to like, how many can you miss?
Only one, right?
You serve once and if it goes in the net, if it's not in, you're done.
That's it, right?
But you can serve forever if they're all in and don't come back, right?
Got it.
Okay.
It is brutal.
Tennis, you get another chance.
You get another chance.
You get two serves in tennis.
Yes.
Volleyball games would be way too long if everyone got two chances.
I know.
I know.
It's so true.
So believing in ourselves and whatever we do and having people around us that believe in us too, is huge, you know.
Absolutely.
Aubrey, what's another episode we could check out?
Yeah, we want to make sure you guys don't miss episode 2473, Confused by Complicated Vocabulary.
That's English for you for this really fun chunk that we use to connect about the exasperation over things.
Yeah, and I think that's the takeaway.
And the other piece of that that you mentioned here Aubrey, is people need to hear that you believe in them.
So think about it from the other side, not just surrounding yourself with people that believe in you, but articulate that you believe in them too, right?
Yeah.
Yes, a couple interesting things here, right?
This is an interesting conversation to ask people if they believe in something that not everyone does.
Maybe they believe in ghosts or spirits or speaking to their ancestors.
What a great way to get deeper about someone's interesting beliefs.
And then, just like you said Lindsay, anytime someone's doubting themselves, to let them know that you believe in them.
You know that they can do it.
Yeah.
People really need to hear that sometimes, you know?
Absolutely.
This is the route to better connections.
I love it.
So good.
Guys, don't forget to hit follow if you love our style of connection, not perfection.
All right, Aubrey.
Talk to you soon.
Have a good day.
See you next time.
All right.
Bye-bye.
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