to me, they seem the same, but surely there’s a subtle nuance.
like, for example, i’ve heard: “i thought he died.” and “i thought he was dead” and they seem like synonyms.
to me, they seem the same, but surely there’s a subtle nuance.
like, for example, i’ve heard: “i thought he died.” and “i thought he was dead” and they seem like synonyms.
It has to do with Verb Tense.
In your example, “I thought he died,” that would mean you thought he had died in the past.
“I thought he was dead” would mean that you thought he had died recently or in this situation, in the present time.