Page 233 - Advanced English Grammar in Use

P r e p o s i t i o n s a f t e r v e r b s ( 2 )

hear about/of We can use either hear about or hear of when we talk about gaining
information about someone or something:
• I heard about/of this restaurant through Pam.
• You don't often hear about/of people with cholera in Britain.

hear about We use hear about {not 'hear of) to talk about getting some news about someone
or something:
• Have you heard about Jan's accident? • Did you hear about the match? I won!

hear of We use hear of (rather than 'hear about') to indicate whether we know about the
existence of something or somebody:
• You must have heard of the Amsterdam flower market. It's famous.
• It was a book by an author I'd never heard of.
We use the expression won't hear of to mean that someone refuses to let you do something:
• I want to repay Jim the money I owe him, but he won't hear of it.
hear from We use hear from when we talk about receiving some communication - e.g. a
phone call or letter - from somebody:
• I heard from Pauline recently. She told me she's moving back to Greece.
• When did you last hear from Don?
D laugh about/at We can say we laugh at an amusing person, thing or situation, or something
we don't take seriously, when the amusing thing, etc., is present. We use laugh about when we
are remembering the amusing person, thing or situation at a later date:
• We spent a happy couple of hours laughing at photos from the party.
• The programme was so funny! We laugh about it every time we think of it.
If one person is the object of another person's amusement, instead of sharing in the
suffers, we
and consequently
I amusement, she fell off her chair, all her friends laughed at her and she started to cry.
at. We don't use
laugh about in this way:
use
laugh
•
When
agree with 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:
• 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.
agree to We use agree to to say that someone allows something to happen, or to say that
someone is prepared to do something:
• 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.
agree on We use agree on to say that two or more people decide something:
• We agreed on a time and place to meet.
agree about 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:
• Something that everyone can agree about is that we all want to be happy.
• We couldn't agree on/about the colour to paint the kitchen.

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Twondhreeword i verbs = Preposons after verbs (1) and (3) =
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