Preposition About
Today’s episode is about….the preposition About. Tune in to today’s show and discover different ways of using the preposition About. Enjoy :)
Transcript
Hi amigos y amigas, you are listening to the English Made Simple Show, this is episode number 102, one-hundred and two. Numero ciento dos.
Hello amigos and welcome to the English Made Simple show my name is Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net. www.englishmadesimple.net.
How’s it going amigos? Doing well? I certainly hope so!
Well, today is the last day of April, the last day of the month or how we say it in business terms, End of Month. EOM.
I would like us to end the month (of April) with the preposition ABOUT.
We will talk about About. The preposition About!
Yes, Milena it’s about time you start talking about the preposition About.
And then next month we will start a different topic. Stick around and tune in to the next episode to learn more about what’s coming next.
Remember guys, you can listen to the English Made Simple show on the English Made Simple website, you can also listen to it on Soundcloud, iTunes, YouTube and Stitcher. Stitcher is an app for Android devices, or any other podcast app if you like, you can use it on your phone.
Righto, jolly good! I think it’s time we get this party started.
The preposition About can be used in different situations. And in today’s show I am going to share with you some examples of when and how to use this preposition.
By knowing how to use it correctly it will help you sound more natural and more fluent in English.
I will share with you 4 or 5 examples. I forgot now, but anyway, I will share some examples with you let’s just start, shall we?
The first one being the easy one.
Firstly, let’s define the preposition ABOUT
According to – you know who – Weon Inteligente, ABOUT is a preposition and it means: on the subject of, concerning or regarding something.
Ok, let’s explain with an example. Oki doki!
Por ejemplo: I am into Japanese movies at the moment. So the other day, I saw a movie about samurai.
The movie was on the subject of samurai. A samurai warrior.
Another example, I saw a documentary about Alexander the Great. And it wasn’t that great.
And also I saw a documentary about Genghis Khan.
I am interested in these historical figures, fascinating stuff.
I know a lot of English learners make a mistake here when they say, a documentary of or a movie of Alexander the Great. It’s not OF in this case it is ABOUT. I saw a documentary About Alexander the Great… for example.
We wouldn’t use the preposition OF in this case because, it would imply that the documentary is made of Alexander the Great, physically and literally made of this person. It can’t be possible, it is not possible. So we need to use the preposition About in this case, right?
Remember, the movie is About something or someone.
It’s not the movie is of something or someone.
Okey dokey hokey pokey – let’s continue.
The next example.
What are some other ways we could use the preposition About?
A great question!
Instead of using the word Approximately you can use the word About.
For example, let’s imagine you are going shopping, shopping for some clothes.
You need to buy a new pair of jeans. (A bigger size perhaps, they need to be stretchy and with elastic because you are eating too much food)
You walk into a shop and you see a pair of jeans that cost about $50 dollars.
So the jeans are approximately $50. They are about $50 dollars.
Cool, easy peasy lemon squeezy.
I hope some of you had an ah-ha moment, like, oh my god, I didn’t know that! Wow…
Cool. Now you do. Now you know it!
The next example we are going to use is also going to be an eye opener.
Instead of saying Almost – or in Spanish Casi, we can say About. We can use the word About.
I tend to use the word ABOUT in this way regularly…I guess, often.
For example, my friend Ana, whom I haven’t seen in a while, let’s say I bump into her in the street: and I go: hey Ana, I was just about to call you to see how you are doing, we should catch-up.
For those of you who are joining us for the very first time amigos, welcome – first of all, we already covered the expression to BUMP INTO someone in the episode 99 if my memory serves me right. You can learn about this expression in the episode 99 you should go back and check it out!
Let’s continue.
Another example, I’ll give you another example..
Let’s imagine you are at the cinema with your friends. Your friends are quite talkative, they like to talk, they started chatting away – talking, talking gibberish. And you say, shh…quiet, the movie is about to start, guys. Shhhhh….!
That’s a polite of saying Shut up. Just Shut Up. Callate! The movie is about to start. The movie almost started that’s what it means.
Right! A bit of a random example, that one!
Let me use the example….another example…the one…the phrase I use a lot. Yup, that’s it!
I was just about to sneeze. Estuve apunto de estornudar. Good!
Furthermore, we can use the preposition About to indicate or express movement within an area.
Sometimes we can use About instead of the word AROUND – aldrededor in Spanish.
For example, normally at children’s parties – kids you know, children can’t keep still, they can’t be quiet they normally like to jump about. They cannot stand still. They need to move around. They like to jump about. They are moving everywhere, from one spot to another.
And lastly, we can use About instead of the phrase: Because Of.
For example, I am excited about my long weekend.
Another example I can give you: My neighbours are often loud, normally on the weekends.
And every time this happens, I complain to my husband about the noise.
Me cejo por el ruido.
I complain to my husband because of the noise.
Meaning, I tend to complain to my husband because of this noise.
Another example: If am out and about shopping, you know just out somewhere shopping and I receive a bad customer service.
I would complain about the customer service. I would complain about it.
Me cejo por la mala atención al cliente.
Well, I tried to put these examples in a different context for you, so it’s easier to remember. I gave you different examples.
Here are a few examples of using the preposition About at the end of a question. Mmmmm yes this word often ends up at the end of a question.
Now, we are entering the advanced level of English here, guys.
And now you can learn how to use ABOUT when asking questions and improve your fluency.
I’ll give you some examples, some common questions you will hear… number 1:
Who are you thinking about?
What are you talking about?
What are you complaining about?
What did you dream about?
What is the movie about?
What is the book about?
What is today’s episode about? Today’s episode is about…About!
Cool bananas! I think we had enough for today.
We are about to end today’s show.
Let’s just sum up quickly, as you can see, the preposition About has multiple meanings… like the majority of words in the English language. Oh well, what can we do about that?
The only thing we can do about that is to keep learning English and keep practising. Yes….
Before we finish the show, I’d like to send a greeting to a few listeners of the show who have recently joined the group and who have been really supportive in the Facebook Group.
A special Hello goes to Alejandra Murcia from Colombia, Pablo Arroyo, Analía Flores from Argentina and Angel Polux who is not only a fan of the English Made Simple podcast but he is also a fan of Metallica as well haha. Which is cool, thanks guys for your nice comments and for your support of course.
And of course Redboy Angeles from the Phillipines. I hope I pronounced your name correctly! I thought they already speak English in the Philippines, or is the real reason you are listening to the show because of my silly jokes. Yup, probably…. Haha Nothing wrong with that. That’s all cool.
Well, thanks for joining the EMS community amigos. Welcome aboard!
And that’s it for now muchachos y muchachas. You’ve been an awesome audience as always!
Until next time, hasta la proxima!