A suitable word doesn't occur to me.

[GeneD]

1. A suitable word doesn't occur to me.
2. A suitable word doesn't come to mind.
3. I can't think of a suitable word.

Are those sentences correct? To me, they mean the same. Do they?

 

[GeneD]

Maybe I put too many sentences in post #1, and maybe the 2 and 3 were unnecessary (they seem pretty natural to me, though I'm not 100% sure)...

It's the first one that looks especially curious to me. I've noticed that way of using 'occur' in Mark Twain's language. Yes, I realise that it may sound rather antique... But maybe not? I just want to diversify a bit the ways to express the idea in #1; I pretty often need to say that a new idea entered my mind, and I'd like to do it in a bit less tedious way than endlessly repeat that 'something doesn't come to mind'. Would you help me with the 1 example sentence? Is it natural for modern English?

 

[GoesStation]

All three sentences are fine in contemporary English. We often say things like That hadn't occurred to me.

 

[teechar]

Or:
No suitable word comes to mind.

 

[Skrej]

Or even "I can't think of the right word."

 

[GeneD]

A bright idea ran in my mind.

What about this? Is it natural for contemporary English?

 

[probus]

No.

 

[YAMATO2201]

A bright idea ran in my mind.

What about this? Is it natural for contemporary English?

No.

Is the following sentence natural in contemporary English?

Suddenly, a bright idea flashed across my mind.

 

[GeneD]

Is the following sentence natural in contemporary English?

Suddenly, a bright idea flashed across my mind.

Also, 'flash into one's mind' and 'flash through one's mind'. That's what I've googled. Thanks for the clue, Yamato.

I wonder how they could be used, though, in a context close to this forum discussions. Say, when a new thought comes to mind, would it be natural to say 'It just flashed across/through/into my mind that...'?

 

[Rover_KE]

Maybe I put too many sentences in [STRIKE]question into the 1[/STRIKE] post #1 ...

No, you didn't; they were all on the same topic.

However, you should have started a new thread for the unrelated question in post #6.

 

[GeneD]

When I started this thread, the principal idea I had in mind was about how to say that something has materialised in one's head; whether it would be a word or a good thought, it didn't matter to me. I chose the example with a 'suitable word' first, and then, in #6, I changed the 'word' to 'idea', that is true. But does it really make the question unrelated to the topic? To me, the topic is the same: it's about something coming to mind, flashing across it and so on.

But at the same time I realise that I often do ask questions that are different from the main topic. Yes, I have this sin. I just can't get used to the forum's format as to how to lead a discussion. I try to converse naturally (the way I would do it in the real life), and naturally I tend to drift off-topic a bit. Sorry about this.

 

[Raymott]

Something materialising in your head is not a good image. The primary meaning of "materialise" is to become material. Brain tumours materialise in your head. Ideas? Not so natural.

 

[YAMATO2201]

something has materialised in one's head

Something materialising in your head is not a good image. The primary meaning of "materialise" is to become material. Brain tumours materialise in your head. Ideas? Not so natural.

Is it natural to say "materialize in somebody's mind"?

The idea had materialized in his mind by the end of the 1970s.

 

[Raymott]

That would be preferable. 'Materialise' has a few meanings. The 'head' sentence just sounded strange to me.

 

[GeneD]

Something materialising in your head is not a good image. The primary meaning of "materialise" is to become material. Brain tumours materialise in your head. Ideas? Not so natural.

The word 'materialise' I saw used in this sense when I was flipping through the dictionary definitions of the expressions we were discussing yesterday. Here, 'come to mind' is explained through the word 'materialise' ('to suddenly or immediately materialize in one's mind'). They used 'mind', not 'head' though. I had noticed this. And frankly speaking, I did want to use 'mind' first. But then, trying to avoid using this word twice in one sentence, I thought that 'head' might do the trick. And it obviously didn't.

 

[GeneD]

Just out of curiosity, do you think there is a suitable synonym which could be used in that sentence instead of 'mind'? I'll remind the sentence, just in case:

When I started this thread, the principal idea I had in mind was about how to say that something has materialised in one's... (?) ; whether it would be a word or a good thought, it didn't matter to me.

 

[emsr2d2]

You could use "imagination" but it's not an exact synonym. You could avoid the entire issue by saying "how to say that something has occurred to me".

 

[GeneD]

You could avoid the entire issue by saying "how to say that something has occurred to me".

For some reason, this simple solution didn't occur to me. Thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

I just realised the word "occur" is in your title!!

 

[jutfrank]

You've already got several very good ways. Just remember that they have different uses.

• to occur to one

It didn't occur to me to ask him where he was going.

• to cross one's mind

Just then a very interesting thought crossed his mind.

• to think of something
• to come/spring to mind

A: Can you think of another similar example?
B: No, nothing comes to mind.
B: No, nothing springs to mind.