Prepositions Make a Difference: “HEAR OF” & “HEAR ABOUT”

When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain and the last lion roars at the last

dusty fountain.

Have you heard of that song before?

Have you heard of The Last Unicorn?

It's a book by Peter S. Beagle about the last unicorn.

You might be wondering why I sometimes wear this shirt that says "Save the Unicorns."

It's because she is the last unicorn in the story.

And there was a movie called The Last Unicorn in the 1980s.

It has aged pretty well.

If you have nostalgia for it, you enjoy it more.

The song I sang or tried to sing at the beginning of this video is from that movie.

So if you enjoyed my little preview of The Last Unicorn, check it out.

You might enjoy it.

So hey, I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking and welcome to this video about "hear of" versus "hear about."

So these are two prepositional verb phrases, basically, like with a verb and a preposition,

combination that are often confused by people who are learning English.

My point, my purpose in this video is to remove the confusion.

So "hear of," to be aware of the existence of something or someone.

So I asked you, "Have you heard of The Last Unicorn, the book or the movie?

Are you aware of the existence of The Last Unicorn?"

You can say, "Oh, I don't know what that is," or "I know what that is.

I have heard of it."

So when you think of "hear of," think about knowing about something or knowing of something.

So for example, have you heard of intermittent fasting?

So what is intermittent fasting?

Maybe you have heard of it.

Maybe you haven't heard of it.

It's when you, well, there are different, you know, styles of intermittent fasting.

So maybe for, you know, one day you don't eat for like 16 hours, or sorry, 8 hours?

16 hours.

Yeah, you don't eat for 16 hours and then you eat during the eight-hour period during

the day.

That is one type of intermittent fasting.

I've heard of Lizzo, but I don't think I've ever heard of one of her songs.

So Lizzo is a musical artist, right?

She writes music.

She sings.

I've heard of her.

This is true about me.

I've heard her name like mentioned on the radio and I've heard her name online, but

I don't think I've ever heard one of her songs.

So I've heard of her.

I know who she is.

I know the name, but I don't know if I've heard one of her songs.

And this is a very common sentence with, "Sorry, I've never heard of someone or something."

I can't tell you something I've never heard of because you would have to ask me first.

So once again, have you heard of The Last Unicorn?

You know, maybe it's silly to ask, have you heard of Lord of the Rings?

Because most people have heard of something like that.

Or like Star Wars, like these big pop culture things.

Have you heard of Superman?

It's a strange question.

I wouldn't ask it.

However, have you heard of the book Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis?

Maybe you have.

If you have, it's probably because you are a Scrabble player.

So Stefan Fatsis is a famous Scrabble player who wrote a book about the Scrabble competitive

Scrabble community.

So yeah, if you are interested in that, you might want to check it out.

Now, you have heard of this book, and maybe you will be interested in checking it out,

especially if you enjoy the game Scrabble, which is a great word game to help you practice

your spelling and your vocabulary in English.

Okay, so hear of, to be aware of the existence of something.

What about hear about?

So if you hear about something, you are aware of an incident or an event.

You have details.

You have information about something.

So for example, and I'll do the other part after, did you hear about Dan?

He got a new job, right?

It's like, did you hear about Dan?

He got a new job.

Did you hear the news about Dan?

Next, I haven't heard anything about this, right?

Like, I have no information about this.

I have no idea what the details are of this situation, of this news.

It's new to me.

Have you heard about?

So if I ask you the question, have you heard about?

I assume that you at least know the person or thing that I'm going to talk about.

But sometimes, maybe you haven't.

If I'm just referring to an incident or the details of an event or a news story.

So if I say, oh, have you heard about, you know, I'll say a soccer team.

Maybe there's a scandal.

Have you heard about the, what's a team that has a scandal?

Juventus, okay.

In the Serie A, Italian League, okay.

Have you heard about Juventus?

It's like, oh yeah, what happened?

Oh, there was a big scandal with the accounting department or something like that.

No matter what year you are listening to this in,

there's probably a soccer scandal somewhere.

Okay, not only with Juventus, with other teams as well.

FIFA is an evil organization.

So I have heard, I don't know, maybe.

Okay, so yeah, to have heard the details of a news story, an event, etc.

And here you're saying, Alex, why are you saying of?

Okay, so here we hear, what do you hear?

If you just use the verb hear, you hear something.

So I heard the details, the details of something.

So you're not saying like, you know, heard the details about a new story, event, etc.

I just don't want you to feel confused there.

So one more time, if you hear of something, you are aware of its existence.

Yeah, I know the name or yeah, I'm familiar with that person or with that thing.

But maybe I know something more about them.

Maybe I don't.

So your existence, your knowledge of whether or not something exists.

Well, not whether or not, but guys, it has been a long day today.

So let me try that one more time.

If you hear of something, you are aware of its existence.

Thank you for your patience.

And finally, hear about.

You have heard news, you have heard details, you have heard information about something

that has happened, either in events or in someone's life.

So here, right?

Oh, did you hear about Dan?

Yeah, you know, he got a new job.

Hey, did you hear about Barbara?

Yeah, she's having a baby.

Whoa, cool.

So yeah, that's it.

Hear of, hear about.

If you want to test whether or not you know what I'm talking about here, check out the

quiz on www.engvid.com.

Check out "The Last Unicorn".

Look up the song "The Last Unicorn" by the band America.

Yes, there is a band called America.

"The Last Unicorn" by America.

It's a great song.

I highly recommend it.

Check it out.

And if you're watching this on YouTube, like the video, share it, subscribe to my channel.

Until next time, good luck, take care, and I'll see you again soon.

When the last thing...

I can't remember the words, actually.

I hope I sang that right.