Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
00:06
Feifei: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
0
6960
2320
00:09
I'm Feifei.
1
9280
620
00:09
Neil: And I'm Neil.
2
9900
1000
00:10
Feifei: In this programme, we're talking about 'about'!
3
10900
2940
00:13
Neil: About 'about'?
4
13840
1580
00:15
Feifei: About 'about'!
5
15420
1340
00:16
Neil: This is getting silly! We are indeed talking
6
16760
2940
00:19
about the word 'about' - but not as it's usually used.
7
19700
3290
00:22
Feifei: Indeed. Let's demonstrate. Is Mark about today?
8
22990
4180
00:27
Neil: Yes, I saw him this morning.
9
27170
1590
00:28
Feifei: So, when I asked: 'Is Mark about today?' I
10
28760
2920
00:31
wasn't asking if Mark was somehow related
11
31680
2563
00:34
to the concept of 'today' I just meant, 'Is
12
34243
2687
00:36
Mark here?'
13
36930
1000
00:37
Neil: 'About' means 'here', or 'somewhere near here'.
14
37930
3160
00:41
Feifei: Mark's about. Mark's near here. By the way,
15
41090
3659
00:44
who's Mark?
16
44749
1000
00:45
Neil: No idea. But I know he's near here!
17
45749
1961
00:47
Feifei: Well, that's reassuring. Time for some more
18
47710
2840
00:50
examples about 'about'.
19
50550
4650
00:55
Examples: Hi, is Sue about? Just need to give her some
20
55200
2920
00:58
files.
21
58129
1800
00:59
Will you be about this evening? I want to
22
59929
2461
01:02
ask a big favour.
23
62390
1810
01:04
There's no one about. It's a bit scary.
24
64200
3500
01:07
Don't talk like that. There are children about.
25
67700
5540
01:13
Feifei: There we are. 'About' meaning in or close
26
73240
3060
01:16
to an area.
27
76310
1000
01:17
Neil: You know, there's another word that behaves
28
77310
1650
01:18
like this.
29
78960
1000
01:19
Feifei: You're talking about - 'around'!
30
79960
1680
01:21
Neil: Indeed. We could ask: 'Is Mark around?'
31
81640
3040
01:24
Feifei: And we know the answer to that: you saw him
32
84700
2200
01:26
this morning.
33
86909
1000
01:27
Neil: Except - I didn't really see him. Because
34
87909
2901
01:30
Mark doesn't exist...
35
90810
1050
01:31
Mark: Hi. I'm Mark.
36
91860
1680
01:33
Neil: Ah, Mark!
37
93540
1300
01:34
Feifei: We were just talking about you!
38
94850
2320
01:37
Neil: We were just talking about 'about'.
39
97170
2800
01:39
Feifei: And 'around'.
40
99970
990
01:40
Neil, Feifei, Mark: Bye.
41
100960
5500
New videos
About this website
This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.