Many students who speak English as a second language have difficulty using the word ‘about’. What does it mean and how should it be used in context? Read on to find out!
The word ‘about’ is often used as a preposition to link words in a sentence, but can also be an adverb or adjective. There are thus several different ways of using ‘about’, each subtly different. In this post, we run through a few common uses.
‘About’ can be used as a preposition to mean ‘on the subject of’ or ‘concerning’, such as in:
We talked about her new job.
Please note that certain words can take the place of the word ‘about’, but are never used in conjunction with it. For example:
We discussed her new job.
Not:
We discussed about her new job.
Other words that could be used in place of ‘talked about’ include ‘debated’ and ‘mentioned’. Words that could be used with ‘about’ include ‘spoke about’ or ‘chatted about’. If you are unsure which words go with ‘about’, you can always get your work proofread.
‘About’ can also be used to indicate something as being in the general vicinity or spread around a particular area:
The lights were scattered about the room.
He concealed a knife about his person
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Here, it is basically used as a synonym for ‘around’ or ‘on’.
It can also be used to express the prevalence of something:
There’s a lot of flu about at the moment.
Another common use of ‘about’ is to indicate approximate measures:
It cost about five pounds.
Similarly, ‘about’ is often used to mean ‘almost’:
We haven’t finished the report yet, but it’s just about there.
‘About’ is also used to indicate movement in a particular space:
He flailed his arms about wildly when trying to dance.
The last definition we’ll mention here (it has a few others) is when ‘about’ means ‘in the opposite direction’:
Realising he had forgotten his keys, Tim turned about and headed back home.
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