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OF vs ABOUT

Can someone explain me in a simple way what's the difference between OF and ABOUT when they're use with HEAR, THINK, TALK, etc?


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Plater725 profile picture Plater725October 2018
I'm not aware of any practical differences between "of" and "about" in the above examples. Strictly speaking, when you hear/think/talk "of" an object, the topic is strictly that object. When you hear/think/talk about an object, the topic might include things related to the object.

For example, if I say "I heard of the rivers in Italy," that simply means I know the rivers in Italy exist. If I say "I heard about the rivers in Italy," that implies that I received information related to the rivers.
AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgNovember 2020

The expressions such as ”talk of sth/sb (doing sth)” verses ”talk about sth/sb (doing sth)” differ in a couple of significant ways.

Firstly, ”talk about sth/sb (doing sth)” is a less direct conversation regarding sth/sb (doing sth) than ”talk of sth/sb (doing sth)”.

Secondly, ”talk of sth/sb (doing sth)” would be used far more commonly in formal language. In fact, ”talk of sth/sb (doing sth)” is becoming almost old-fashioned in normal everyday English.

There are set expressions where ”of” is still used normally, such as ”I’ve heard of that band!”, but it’s much more idiomatic that literal. In this case, it’s about acquiring knowledge about sth existing, namely ”that band”.

”I think of you.” is another exception where it is used in normal speech. It tends to be used when the thinking process points to ”you” in a highly personal context such as a romantic one or someone as a good friend. "I think about you" is not so strong here.

vincent profile picture vincentJanuary 2015
Thanks for your question related to language learning
latanyamoll profile picture latanyamollAugust 2023

of is a preposition which is used in expressing the relationship between a part and a whole and also in expressing the relationship between a scale or measure and a value.

Example : an increase of 5%.

about is a preposition used to express “on the subject of slope game; concerning.”

Example : I was thinking about you.

Thank you.