Summary

The word 'about' is very familiar. But there's an unexpected way to use it in spoken English. Join Feifei and Neil to learn this expression, and find out exactly who the mysterious 'Mark' is! 

Transcript

Feifei
Welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Feifei.

Neil
And I'm Neil.

Feifei
In this programme, we're talking about… 'about'!

Neil
About 'about'?

Feifei
About 'about'!

Neil
This is getting silly! We are indeed talking about the word 'about' – but not as it's usually used.

Feifei
Indeed. Let's demonstrate. Is Mark about today?

Neil
Yes, I saw him this morning.

Feifei
So – when I asked: "Is Mark about today?" I wasn't asking if Mark was somehow related to the concept of 'today' I just meant 'Is Mark here'?

Neil
'About' means 'here', or 'somewhere near here'.

Feifei
Mark's about. Mark's near here. By the way, who's Mark?

Neil
No idea. But I know he's near here!

Feifei
Well, that's reassuring. Time for some more examples about 'about'.

Examples
Hi, is Sue about? Just need to give her some files.

Will you be about this evening? I want to ask a big favour.

There's no one about. It's a bit scary.

Don't talk like that. There are children about.

Feifei
There we are. 'About' meaning in or close to an area.

Neil
You know, there's another word that behaves like this.

Feifei
You're talking about… 'around'!

Neil
Indeed. We could ask: "Is Mark around?"

Feifei
And we know the answer to that: you saw him this morning.

Neil
Except… you didn't really see him did you? Because Mark doesn't exist…

Mark
Hi – I'm Mark.

Neil
Ah, Mark!

Feifei
We were just talking about you!

Neil
We were just talking about 'about'.

Feifei
And 'around'.

Neil, Feifei, Mark
Bye.