70671
Take the following sentences:

  1. いつか願いが叶うと信じている。

  2. いつか願いが叶うのを信じている。/ いつか願いが叶うことを信じている。 

I know what they mean, but I don't know if there is a practical difference
between the two versions. More generally, are there times when only と **or**
のを/ことを can be used, but not both?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-01T12:47:35.350
69206
2019-09-10T06:23:57.977
2019-09-06T17:47:25.177
18435
33212
question
grammar nuances sentence
と vs. のを / ことを when used with 信じる
As a native Japanese speaker, I'd rather explain my own feeling or thoughts at
the times facing of someone saying those sentences:

1) いつか願いが叶うと信じている。

He/she has "made" him/herself believe something - or he/she consiously defines
his/her beliefs as such.

2) いつか願いが叶うのを信じている。/ いつか願いが叶うことを信じている。

He/she believes something.

Basically those sentences are fairly similar but I slightly sense of more
consciousness on #1 than #2. Perhaps "と" makes me feel of psychological
distance between subjects and objects, thus revealing existense of implied
forces (i.e., will) tighten them up and turning objects into subjects (or
"heartfelt voice"). On the other hand, objects on #2 are still objects.

If the verb "信じている" is changed to some other, for example "考えている", I think the
distinction between two becomes clearer. I'm not sure this can be applied to
"信じている" but could be understood as some inherent meanings of "信じる" has masked
out grammatical differences - probably "信じる" is subjective after all.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-09T13:21:03.303
70671
2019-09-09T13:21:03.303
35313
69206
answer
This point with ～と(certain verbs) is discussed in the N1 grammar 過去問題集 by
ドリル＆ドリル. There is a difference between を and と for me but I don't feel
comfortable explaining it. Anyhow, I think that explaining exactly what と is
doing will help a bit.

## Explanation by grammar resource

The discussion is an elaboration on this sentence:

学生時代にもっと勉強しておけばよかったと今更ながら後悔している。

Although I've already graduated and it's too late now, I regret that I didn't
study more as a student.

>
> 「～と後悔する」の「と」は、後ろの動詞（「後悔する」）の内容（何をどのように後悔したか）を表す引用の文（「もっと勉強しておけばよかった」）の最後につける。
> 例：①「学生時代の不勉強を後悔している」②「学生時代に勉強しなかったことを後悔している」③「学生時代になぜもっと勉強しなかったのだろうと後悔している」

The point of this 「と」is to provide information/context about the [thing you're
doing=verb that comes after と] - what are you [ _verb_ ing] and/or in what way
are you [ _verb_ ing] it?

If you substitute 信じる for 後悔する in the explanation from my textbook above, you
get this:

> 「～と信じる」の「と」は、後ろの動詞（「信じる」）の内容（何をどのように信じているか）を表す引用の文（「いつか願いが叶う」）の最後につける。
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-10T06:23:57.977
70706
2019-09-10T06:23:57.977
35327
69206
answer