Can I replace "stuff" with "thing"? Do "stuff" and "thing" have the same meaning?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
"Thing" is a very common phrase in speaking It is most commonly used to refer to physical objects, but we also use thing to refer to ideas, actions and events. It is considered a vague language phrase. The key thing to remember is that thing is singular (the plural being things). "Stuff" is one of the most common nouns in speaking. It is more informal than "thing". Stuff is an uncountable noun and is generally used as a plural form refering to several things. We use stuff in similar ways to "thing", as they are both vague language phrases but "thing" is singular. Because of the fact that he's referring to plural issues we can only use "stuff" in the case of the video. The other option would be to use the plural form "things". Ex: What’s that thing over there in the car park? Ex: Can you put your things in the upstairs room? Ex: Where can we put our stuff? Ex: You're going to need a lot of stuff to get this done.
