phrases - What is the difference between "what do you think" and "how about"?

These two sentences seem to be the same to me. Is there any difference between them, and are there circumstances in which I can only use one of them instead of the other?

Answer

Both of them can be used perfectly in cases when you want to present a choice or if you actually want to ask someone's opinion on something.

For example, both versions

• How about the red one?/What do you think about the red one?

can be understood (from context) as

• what is your opinion on the "red one", or


• let's choose the red one

Differences:

• "How about" is a phrase and is more informal. It is also more suggestive (but that still depends on emphasis and context).


• "What do you think" can be taken literally e.g. What do you think about the game last night? as inquiry about opinion, maybe as start to a longer conversation; in the same example the other phrase works very well, too: How about that game last night(!). However, notice the change of punctuation - typically you would use "how about" if the game was exceptional in some way.