verbalize quietly

[maicart]

Hello,

I'm trying to find an expression to express when you are "thinking to yourself" something, like "verbalizing something in your mind".

Are these expressions correct?

"verbalize quietly"
"think to yourself"

Any other alternatives?

 

[Franco-filly]

If you were thinking deeply / pondering a difficult decision, you could say "I was mulling it over in my mind"
You can also "visualize" events, ideas.

 

[velisarius]

"Verbalise" means "put into words". Do you mean that you were mentally "rehearsing" an argument, trying to (mentally) organise your thoughts into coherent speech? I think that's different from "thinking hard" about some matter.

"Verbalise" is used for saying something aloud, in my experience, so I wouldn't use it here.

 

[maicart]

@Franco-filly @velisarius Thanks. It's for a language learning exercise. I want students to practice a drill quietly (in their minds), without saying it loud.

 

[Franco-filly]

I want students to practice a drill quietly (in their minds), without saying it loud.

Then maybe "repeat it / practise it in your head" "go over it in your mind"

 

[Packard]

I often will "say it aloud in my mind", if I want to imagine the actual words as spoken. I do this most often when trying to write authentic sounding dialog. This is a quite different thing from mulling things over in my head or other thought processes. I am mentally converting the words to sounds.

 

[pob14]

Somewhat of a side note, but quietly means at a low volume, and silently means without sound. They are not synonymous. If you were standing next to me, you would hear words I say quietly, but not those I think silently.

 

[maicart]

@pob14 Interesting. There's a scene in the movie Magnolia where Tom Cruise is being interviewed, and the interviewer asks him an awkward question.

He remains silent, and she says: "What are you doing?". He answers: "I'm quietly judging you".

I'm not sure if in that context, "quietly" is the same as "silently", or whether they use that adverb for emphasis purposes.

 

[Packard]

@pob14 Interesting. There's a scene in the movie Magnolia where Tom Cruise is being interviewed, and the interviewer asks him an awkward question.

He remains silent, and she says: "What are you doing?". He answers: "I'm quietly judging you".

I'm not sure if in that context, "quietly" is the same as "silently", or whether they use that adverb for emphasis purposes.

In that case, I would understand "quietly judging you" to mean that he is judging him for his own evaluation only. An evaluation that is not to be shared. I did not see the movie, but it sounds like it was a negative judgement.

 

[kentix]

I think "silently" was probably the more appropriate word there. But it was close enough in that context. It was obvious that he wasn't saying anything quietly; he was silent. But either means he wasn't making a dramatic scene, which was the main point.