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

41,463 views ・ 2023-10-07

English with Alex


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When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain and the last lion roars at the last
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dusty fountain.
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Have you heard of that song before?
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Have you heard of The Last Unicorn?
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It's a book by Peter S. Beagle about the last unicorn.
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You might be wondering why I sometimes wear this shirt that says "Save the Unicorns."
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It's because she is the last unicorn in the story.
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And there was a movie called The Last Unicorn in the 1980s.
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It has aged pretty well.
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If you have nostalgia for it, you enjoy it more.
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The song I sang or tried to sing at the beginning of this video is from that movie.
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So if you enjoyed my little preview of The Last Unicorn, check it out.
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You might enjoy it.
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So hey, I'm Alex.
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Thanks for clicking and welcome to this video about "hear of" versus "hear about."
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So these are two prepositional verb phrases, basically, like with a verb and a preposition,
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combination that are often confused by people who are learning English.
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My point, my purpose in this video is to remove the confusion.
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So "hear of," to be aware of the existence of something or someone.
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So I asked you, "Have you heard of The Last Unicorn, the book or the movie?
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Are you aware of the existence of The Last Unicorn?"
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You can say, "Oh, I don't know what that is," or "I know what that is.
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I have heard of it."
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So when you think of "hear of," think about knowing about something or knowing of something.
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So for example, have you heard of intermittent fasting?
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So what is intermittent fasting?
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Maybe you have heard of it.
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Maybe you haven't heard of it.
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It's when you, well, there are different, you know, styles of intermittent fasting.
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So maybe for, you know, one day you don't eat for like 16 hours, or sorry, 8 hours?
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16 hours.
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Yeah, you don't eat for 16 hours and then you eat during the eight-hour period during
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the day.
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That is one type of intermittent fasting.
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I've heard of Lizzo, but I don't think I've ever heard of one of her songs.
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So Lizzo is a musical artist, right?
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She writes music.
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She sings.
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I've heard of her.
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This is true about me.
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I've heard her name like mentioned on the radio and I've heard her name online, but
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I don't think I've ever heard one of her songs.
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So I've heard of her.
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I know who she is.
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I know the name, but I don't know if I've heard one of her songs.
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And this is a very common sentence with, "Sorry, I've never heard of someone or something."
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I can't tell you something I've never heard of because you would have to ask me first.
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So once again, have you heard of The Last Unicorn?
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You know, maybe it's silly to ask, have you heard of Lord of the Rings?
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Because most people have heard of something like that.
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Or like Star Wars, like these big pop culture things.
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Have you heard of Superman?
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It's a strange question.
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I wouldn't ask it.
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However, have you heard of the book Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis?
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Maybe you have.
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If you have, it's probably because you are a Scrabble player.
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So Stefan Fatsis is a famous Scrabble player who wrote a book about the Scrabble competitive
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Scrabble community.
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So yeah, if you are interested in that, you might want to check it out.
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Now, you have heard of this book, and maybe you will be interested in checking it out,
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especially if you enjoy the game Scrabble, which is a great word game to help you practice
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your spelling and your vocabulary in English.
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Okay, so hear of, to be aware of the existence of something.
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What about hear about?
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So if you hear about something, you are aware of an incident or an event.
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You have details.
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You have information about something.
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So for example, and I'll do the other part after, did you hear about Dan?
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He got a new job, right?
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It's like, did you hear about Dan?
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He got a new job.
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Did you hear the news about Dan?
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Next, I haven't heard anything about this, right?
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Like, I have no information about this.
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I have no idea what the details are of this situation, of this news.
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It's new to me.
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Have you heard about?
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So if I ask you the question, have you heard about?
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I assume that you at least know the person or thing that I'm going to talk about.
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But sometimes, maybe you haven't.
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If I'm just referring to an incident or the details of an event or a news story.
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So if I say, oh, have you heard about, you know, I'll say a soccer team.
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Maybe there's a scandal.
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Have you heard about the, what's a team that has a scandal?
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Juventus, okay.
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In the Serie A, Italian League, okay.
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Have you heard about Juventus?
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It's like, oh yeah, what happened?
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Oh, there was a big scandal with the accounting department or something like that.
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No matter what year you are listening to this in,
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there's probably a soccer scandal somewhere.
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Okay, not only with Juventus, with other teams as well.
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FIFA is an evil organization.
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So I have heard, I don't know, maybe.
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Okay, so yeah, to have heard the details of a news story, an event, etc.
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And here you're saying, Alex, why are you saying of?
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Okay, so here we hear, what do you hear?
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If you just use the verb hear, you hear something.
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So I heard the details, the details of something.
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So you're not saying like, you know, heard the details about a new story, event, etc.
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I just don't want you to feel confused there.
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So one more time, if you hear of something, you are aware of its existence.
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Yeah, I know the name or yeah, I'm familiar with that person or with that thing.
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But maybe I know something more about them.
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Maybe I don't.
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So your existence, your knowledge of whether or not something exists.
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Well, not whether or not, but guys, it has been a long day today.
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So let me try that one more time.
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If you hear of something, you are aware of its existence.
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Thank you for your patience.
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And finally, hear about.
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You have heard news, you have heard details, you have heard information about something
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that has happened, either in events or in someone's life.
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So here, right?
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Oh, did you hear about Dan?
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Yeah, you know, he got a new job.
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Hey, did you hear about Barbara?
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Yeah, she's having a baby.
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Whoa, cool.
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So yeah, that's it.
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Hear of, hear about.
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If you want to test whether or not you know what I'm talking about here, check out the
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quiz on www.engvid.com.
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Check out "The Last Unicorn".
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Look up the song "The Last Unicorn" by the band America.
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Yes, there is a band called America.
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"The Last Unicorn" by America.
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It's a great song.
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I highly recommend it.
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Check it out.
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And if you're watching this on YouTube, like the video, share it, subscribe to my channel.
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Until next time, good luck, take care, and I'll see you again soon.
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When the last thing...
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I can't remember the words, actually.
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I hope I sang that right.
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