One of the many doubts about the words that are written “all together” or “separate” is to say as a single word or as two words that make up a single idea, is “about” and “about”.
The Spanish language has these things that confuse more than one person since when speaking the words are joined and when wanting to write them the question arises: how do you write about or about? And for many the answer is: it doesn’t matter, it sounds the same therefore it is spelled the same, thus falling into the common mistake of writing badly.
We want you to be able to get rid of these doubts, to learn a little more spelling and grammar so that you can expand your vocabulary and express yourself correctly, either orally or in writing.
What do you need to write about or about?
- Reading books, magazines, newspapers, etc.
- Computer with Internet connection.
- Dictionary.
Instructions for writing about or about
- When we want to refer to something related to a certain topic, we use the expression or prepositional phrase, to be more specific, “about”, for example: The brochure spoke about a typical disease in that area. We could also say: In each meeting, different topics are discussed. Yesterday’s meeting discussed the payment of the building’s services. In this case the expression about is always followed by the preposition of, it does not make sense only if we write about. On the other hand, “about” can be replaced by the preposition “about”. For example: He spoke for almost two hours about the current policy. Or it can be said: He spoke for almost two hours about current politics.
- If, on the other hand, we only use the word “near” we will be referring to being located close to something or someone, that is to say a physical location or not of proximity. For example: The table was located very close to the wall. Or also: She felt close to him despite being in different countries.
- Another word that is similar and has a different meaning is ” about” from the reflexive verb to bring closer. For example: He approaches the dog only if he is on a leash. If she does not get close to him, she will surely never get what she has wanted for a long time”.
- The word aboutis written together when it is used as an introduction to a topic, on the other hand, “about” is written separately when “to” is a preposition that precedes the word about and followed by the preposition of: “about”. This set of words defines an adverbial locution whose meaning is “almost” or “approximately”. It can also be used without the preposition “a”. For example:
- That day about50 people gathered, or rather, about 50 people gathered that day. Either almost 50 people gathered that day, or approximately 50 people gathered that day.
Tips for writing about or about
- Record the terms, words, locutions and words that you are learning and apply them in sentences, written phrases to fix the new knowledge.
- Read as much as you can to improve and expand your vocabulary.
- Use the dictionary either on paper or on the Internet to search for all the words and questions you have.