1—
About
1 About identifies a topic.
Pattern 1: noun + be + about + noun
This book is about prepositions.
Nouns commonly used before about:
argument, article, book, conversation, disagreement, discussion, joke, lecture, movie, news, play, program, report, speech, story
Pattern 2: noun + about + noun
She gave me advice about my loan.
Nouns commonly used before about:
assurance, complaint, comment, gossip, lie, question, statement, truth
Pattern 3: verb + about + noun
He often talks about his job.
Verbs commonly used before about:
agree, argue, brag, care, complain, cry, do, dream, forget, groan, hear, joke, know, laugh, lie, moan, pray, read, say, scream, sing, talk, think, wonder, worry, yell
Expressions:
to see about—
1. to delay a decision until more information is known
We want to buy a house, but we will see about that later.
2. to get information about
I called that office to see about getting a job there.
to find out about—to get information about
She called the school to find out about her daughter’s behavior.
Pattern 4: verb + noun + about
She knows something about airplanes.
Typical verbs used with this pattern:
ask, find out, know, learn, say
Typical nouns used before about:
a little, a lot, quite a bit, nothing, something, very little
Pattern 5: verb + indirect object + about + noun
They asked me about my trip.
Verbs commonly used with this pattern:
advise, ask, bother, contact, harass, question, remind, teach, tell, write
Pattern 6: adjective + about + noun
They were very kind about our late arrival.
Adjectives commonly used before about:
charming, kind, nasty, nice, mean, rude, sweet, understanding, unkind
2 About can identify the cause of an emotion or condition.
Pattern: adjective + about + noun
We are excited about our vacation.
