What do I think “a good friend” means?

[JJJenifer]

Hi, everyone,

I have checked the use of "What do you think ~",
but I am still not very sure if the sentecnes below are both correct.
I need your hlep.

1 What do I think it means to be a good friend?
2. What do I think “a good friend” means?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Keith Bradford]

Both are correct English but they have different meanings.

1. What do I think it means to be a good friend? This asks for advice on how to be good to one's friends.
2. What do I think “a good friend” means? This asks for a dictionary definition of this 3-word phrase.

 

[JJJenifer]

Thank you, Keith Bradford.
But if I take away the double quotation marks, will they be equivalent to each other?

 

[Keith Bradford]

No, it doesn't change a great deal; if anything it makes it less clear. The first one includes the words "to be", so it's talking about an activity. The second is talking about a person.

 

[JJJenifer]

Thank you, Keith Bradford.

But can I regard "it=to be a good friend" ?

Thank you for your patience.

 

[Keith Bradford]

In a way. It's hard to say what "it" means -- it's probably what grammarians call a dummy subject or a placeholder; the simplified sentence structure is "What do I think to be a good friend means?

 

[JJJenifer]

Thank you, Keith Bradford,

Let me list the sentences we've refered to as below:

A What do I think it means to be a good friend?
B What do I think to be a good friend means ?
C What do I think “a good friend” means?

So, can I made the conclusion something like
A and B are quite similar, and more about "some actions",
while C is only about the literal meaning ?

Thank you for your patience.

 

[RedwoodGrove]

However, B is not good. It's not quite wrong but it so awkward that it would never be used.

 

[JJJenifer]

Thank you, RedwoodGrove,
A and B are similar or the same, but B is not idiomatic.
B is for explaning the concepts but not idiomatic.
I think I probably understand it.