About and around

 

About and around are both "prepositions" and "adverbs". Their meaning is sometimes the same and sometimes different. Let's see below.

About as a preposition means "on the topic or subject of". For example, "What's this book about?" "It's about mathematics." 

When we talk about places, we often use about and around as below:

1. Preposition: The students are running about the garden. Or: The students are running around the garden.

2. Adverb: The students are running about in the garden. Or: The students are running around in the garden. About or around here means scattered. 

As adverb used in order to make phrasal verbs, around here means the same as about:

Ex: The students are standing about. Or: The students are standing around.

When we are talking about numbers, for example, distance, time or money, they mean "approximately" or "not exactly". With this meaning, they are adverbs of degree. [see the lesson Numbers for more details.] Ex: "How much money do you have in your bank account?" "It's about $25." Or: "It's around $25." 

Note: When the meaning is "approximately", we use about (but not around) followed by adjective or verb. Ex: "I think this answer's about right (about + adjective)." "We've just about finished the lesson (about + verb)."

We hope this can help you understand how to use about and around. If you have any question, just leave a comment in the comment section below.