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

39,916 views ・ 2023-10-07

English with Alex


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain and the last lion roars at the last
0
0
14100
00:14
dusty fountain.
1
14100
1920
00:16
Have you heard of that song before?
2
16900
2540
00:19
Have you heard of The Last Unicorn?
3
19880
2160
00:22
It's a book by Peter S. Beagle about the last unicorn.
4
22620
5520
00:28
You might be wondering why I sometimes wear this shirt that says "Save the Unicorns."
5
28200
6720
00:34
It's because she is the last unicorn in the story.
6
34920
3880
00:39
And there was a movie called The Last Unicorn in the 1980s.
7
39400
4160
00:43
It has aged pretty well.
8
43940
3360
00:48
If you have nostalgia for it, you enjoy it more.
9
48000
3440
00:51
The song I sang or tried to sing at the beginning of this video is from that movie.
10
51560
6080
00:58
So if you enjoyed my little preview of The Last Unicorn, check it out.
11
58160
6140
01:04
You might enjoy it.
12
64420
1160
01:06
So hey, I'm Alex.
13
66020
1980
01:08
Thanks for clicking and welcome to this video about "hear of" versus "hear about."
14
68280
7300
01:15
So these are two prepositional verb phrases, basically, like with a verb and a preposition,
15
75580
7300
01:23
combination that are often confused by people who are learning English.
16
83320
6460
01:30
My point, my purpose in this video is to remove the confusion.
17
90220
5600
01:36
So "hear of," to be aware of the existence of something or someone.
18
96140
7540
01:43
So I asked you, "Have you heard of The Last Unicorn, the book or the movie?
19
103680
6120
01:50
Are you aware of the existence of The Last Unicorn?"
20
110240
4900
01:55
You can say, "Oh, I don't know what that is," or "I know what that is.
21
115140
6680
02:02
I have heard of it."
22
122020
2280
02:04
So when you think of "hear of," think about knowing about something or knowing of something.
23
124300
7300
02:11
So for example, have you heard of intermittent fasting?
24
131940
4460
02:17
So what is intermittent fasting?
25
137140
2760
02:20
Maybe you have heard of it.
26
140320
1660
02:22
Maybe you haven't heard of it.
27
142340
1480
02:24
It's when you, well, there are different, you know, styles of intermittent fasting.
28
144300
4740
02:29
So maybe for, you know, one day you don't eat for like 16 hours, or sorry, 8 hours?
29
149420
7200
02:36
16 hours.
30
156760
540
02:37
Yeah, you don't eat for 16 hours and then you eat during the eight-hour period during
31
157300
5360
02:42
the day.
32
162660
420
02:43
That is one type of intermittent fasting.
33
163260
3460
02:47
I've heard of Lizzo, but I don't think I've ever heard of one of her songs.
34
167720
6140
02:54
So Lizzo is a musical artist, right?
35
174560
3960
02:58
She writes music.
36
178620
1040
02:59
She sings.
37
179840
560
03:01
I've heard of her.
38
181160
1040
03:02
This is true about me.
39
182440
1560
03:04
I've heard her name like mentioned on the radio and I've heard her name online, but
40
184240
5520
03:09
I don't think I've ever heard one of her songs.
41
189760
3320
03:13
So I've heard of her.
42
193220
1100
03:14
I know who she is.
43
194520
1300
03:15
I know the name, but I don't know if I've heard one of her songs.
44
195900
4260
03:20
And this is a very common sentence with, "Sorry, I've never heard of someone or something."
45
200880
9620
03:30
I can't tell you something I've never heard of because you would have to ask me first.
46
210500
4940
03:35
So once again, have you heard of The Last Unicorn?
47
215920
3080
03:39
You know, maybe it's silly to ask, have you heard of Lord of the Rings?
48
219980
3740
03:44
Because most people have heard of something like that.
49
224060
3320
03:47
Or like Star Wars, like these big pop culture things.
50
227640
3520
03:51
Have you heard of Superman?
51
231440
1520
03:53
It's a strange question.
52
233720
1060
03:55
I wouldn't ask it.
53
235000
1000
03:57
However, have you heard of the book Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis?
54
237520
5880
04:04
Maybe you have.
55
244000
1640
04:06
If you have, it's probably because you are a Scrabble player.
56
246340
4280
04:10
So Stefan Fatsis is a famous Scrabble player who wrote a book about the Scrabble competitive
57
250900
7140
04:18
Scrabble community.
58
258040
1360
04:20
So yeah, if you are interested in that, you might want to check it out.
59
260100
4720
04:24
Now, you have heard of this book, and maybe you will be interested in checking it out,
60
264900
5940
04:31
especially if you enjoy the game Scrabble, which is a great word game to help you practice
61
271080
5260
04:36
your spelling and your vocabulary in English.
62
276340
3160
04:40
Okay, so hear of, to be aware of the existence of something.
63
280460
3720
04:44
What about hear about?
64
284640
1280
04:46
So if you hear about something, you are aware of an incident or an event.
65
286860
6440
04:53
You have details.
66
293380
1740
04:55
You have information about something.
67
295640
3260
04:59
So for example, and I'll do the other part after, did you hear about Dan?
68
299500
4780
05:04
He got a new job, right?
69
304520
2340
05:06
It's like, did you hear about Dan?
70
306960
1800
05:09
He got a new job.
71
309120
1100
05:10
Did you hear the news about Dan?
72
310280
2200
05:13
Next, I haven't heard anything about this, right?
73
313280
4540
05:17
Like, I have no information about this.
74
317840
3620
05:21
I have no idea what the details are of this situation, of this news.
75
321460
6640
05:28
It's new to me.
76
328460
780
05:30
Have you heard about?
77
330140
880
05:31
So if I ask you the question, have you heard about?
78
331600
4460
05:36
I assume that you at least know the person or thing that I'm going to talk about.
79
336600
6260
05:43
But sometimes, maybe you haven't.
80
343320
2640
05:45
If I'm just referring to an incident or the details of an event or a news story.
81
345960
5880
05:52
So if I say, oh, have you heard about, you know, I'll say a soccer team.
82
352220
5800
05:58
Maybe there's a scandal.
83
358160
920
05:59
Have you heard about the, what's a team that has a scandal?
84
359500
3700
06:03
Juventus, okay.
85
363620
1040
06:05
In the Serie A, Italian League, okay.
86
365140
2720
06:08
Have you heard about Juventus?
87
368660
1560
06:10
It's like, oh yeah, what happened?
88
370860
1200
06:12
Oh, there was a big scandal with the accounting department or something like that.
89
372060
4480
06:16
No matter what year you are listening to this in,
90
376900
3260
06:20
there's probably a soccer scandal somewhere.
91
380460
2280
06:23
Okay, not only with Juventus, with other teams as well.
92
383560
3500
06:27
FIFA is an evil organization.
93
387760
2580
06:30
So I have heard, I don't know, maybe.
94
390700
1960
06:33
Okay, so yeah, to have heard the details of a news story, an event, etc.
95
393500
5140
06:39
And here you're saying, Alex, why are you saying of?
96
399200
2120
06:41
Okay, so here we hear, what do you hear?
97
401480
2680
06:44
If you just use the verb hear, you hear something.
98
404500
3400
06:48
So I heard the details, the details of something.
99
408240
3940
06:52
So you're not saying like, you know, heard the details about a new story, event, etc.
100
412500
4800
06:57
I just don't want you to feel confused there.
101
417480
2320
07:00
So one more time, if you hear of something, you are aware of its existence.
102
420300
6180
07:06
Yeah, I know the name or yeah, I'm familiar with that person or with that thing.
103
426480
7080
07:13
But maybe I know something more about them.
104
433840
2800
07:17
Maybe I don't.
105
437040
1280
07:18
So your existence, your knowledge of whether or not something exists.
106
438740
4540
07:23
Well, not whether or not, but guys, it has been a long day today.
107
443940
5940
07:30
So let me try that one more time.
108
450240
2640
07:32
If you hear of something, you are aware of its existence.
109
452880
6120
07:39
Thank you for your patience.
110
459580
980
07:41
And finally, hear about.
111
461340
1640
07:43
You have heard news, you have heard details, you have heard information about something
112
463420
6080
07:49
that has happened, either in events or in someone's life.
113
469500
5260
07:55
So here, right?
114
475100
1040
07:56
Oh, did you hear about Dan?
115
476360
1280
07:57
Yeah, you know, he got a new job.
116
477980
1820
08:00
Hey, did you hear about Barbara?
117
480160
1560
08:01
Yeah, she's having a baby.
118
481900
1840
08:04
Whoa, cool.
119
484180
780
08:05
So yeah, that's it.
120
485720
2120
08:08
Hear of, hear about.
121
488360
1600
08:10
If you want to test whether or not you know what I'm talking about here, check out the
122
490220
5680
08:15
quiz on www.engvid.com.
123
495900
2340
08:18
Check out "The Last Unicorn".
124
498520
1960
08:20
Look up the song "The Last Unicorn" by the band America.
125
500480
4460
08:25
Yes, there is a band called America.
126
505460
1980
08:27
"The Last Unicorn" by America.
127
507980
1880
08:30
It's a great song.
128
510300
880
08:31
I highly recommend it.
129
511180
1460
08:32
Check it out.
130
512920
760
08:34
And if you're watching this on YouTube, like the video, share it, subscribe to my channel.
131
514500
5460
08:40
Until next time, good luck, take care, and I'll see you again soon.
132
520200
4040
08:44
When the last thing...
133
524720
1760
08:46
I can't remember the words, actually.
134
526480
1660
08:48
I hope I sang that right.
135
528280
1040
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.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7