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Bill thought of the problem carefully.

Bill thought about the problem carefully.

Any difference could be?

Only difference is 'of' and 'about'. This means the answer is the difference between 'of' and 'about'.

of : a friend of mine, the leg of the table, sth consist of sth, remind A of B give hint, i.e., 'of' needs precedent before of and object after of, which means 'of' provides connection between specific two things and narrows sth down to specific information: A of B. So "think of sth" means think of specific B, the existance of B

about : about 10 mins gives hint, hid money about myself gives hint. about means scattered, i.e., not a fixed point. so 'think about X' means 'X' has some attrubutes around X and you think some of the attributes or the attributes.

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  • As it stands the first one describes a very unusual situation. Can you expand to give more context about when you would write it?
    – mdewey
    Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 11:29
  • I just added some explanation lightly to the original question but hope to receive any answer if possible reinforcing my explanation.
    – gomadeng
    Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 15:01

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"Thinking of" something can often imply a fleeting thought - something popping into one's mind momentarily, or perhaps repeatedly thinking about the same thing.

"Thinking *about" something implies thinking over the details of something, perhaps with a view to reaching a conclusion.

To my ears, as a native English speaker, "thinking of a problem" sounds like someone remembering that they have a problem, whereas "thinking about a problem" sounds like someone is thinking of possible solutions to it.

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    Agreed. "Thinking of a problem" could also mean "coming up with", as in "Bill thought of a problem for his students to solve."
    – stangdon
    Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 16:08
  • stangdon, yes, i agree to "coming up with" thanks for your comment.
    – gomadeng
    Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 16:14

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