1) Hear about or Hear of
We use hear about or hear of when we talk about gaining information about someone or something.
Example:
- I hear about/of this restaurant through Pam.
- You don’t often hear about/of people with cholera in
NOTE 1: We use hear about (not ‘hear of’) to talk about getting some news about someone or something.
Example:
- Have you heard about Jan’s accident?
- Did you hear about the match? I won!
NOTE 2: We use hear of (rather than ‘hear about’) to indicate whether we know about the existence of something or somebody.
Example:
- You must have heard of the
- It was a book by an author I’d never heard of.
NOTE 3: We use hear from when we talk about receiving some communication—e.g. a phone call or letter—from somebody.
Example:
- I heard from Pauline recently. She told me she’s moving back to
- When did you last hear from Don?
2) Laugh at and Laugh about
We can say we laugh at an amusing person, thing or situation, or something we don’t take seriously, when the amusing thin, etc., is present. We use laugh about when we are remembering the amusing person, thing or situation at a later date.
Example:
- We spent a happy couple of hours laughing at photos from the party.
- The program was so funny! We laugh about it every time we think of it.
NOTE: If one person is the object of an0other person’s amusement, instead of sharing in the amusement, and consequently suffers, we use laugh at. We don’t use laugh about in this way.
Example: When she fell off her chair, all her friends laughed at her and she started to cry.
3) Agree with, Agree to, Agree on, and Agree about
ç We use agree with to say that two people have the same opinion; to say that you approve of a particular idea or action; or to say that two things match. We also use agree with to talk about things that make us feel healthy or happy.
Example:
- Adam thinks we should accept the offer, and I agree with him.
- I agree with letting children choose the clothes they want to wear.
- Tom’s story agreed with that of his son.
- Being on holiday agrees with me. I feel great.
ç We use agree to to say that someone allows something to happen, or to say that someone is prepared to do something.
Example:
- Once the government agreed to the scheme it went ahead without delay.
- He agreed to the idea of a barbecue on condition that he could do the cooking.
ç We use agree on to say that two or more people decide something.
Example: We agree on the time and place to meet.
ç We use agree about to say that people have the same opinion on a particular subject. When a decision depends on people’s opinions, we can use either agree on or agree about.
Example:
- Something that everyone can agree about is that we all want to be happy.
- We couldn’t agree on/about the color to paint the kitchen.
