Page 38 - Basic English Usage

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37 (a)round and about

We usually use round for movement or position in a circle, or in a curve.
We all sat round the table. U
oO No
| walked round the car and looked at the wheels. [@ Ge
‘Where do you live?’ ‘Just round the corner.’ &

We also use round when we talk about going
to ail (or most) parts of a place, or giving things
to everybody in a group. «— ROUND .
We walked round the old part of the town.
Can | look round ? a NN,
Could you pass the cups round, please?

We use around or about to express movements or positions that are not
very Clear or definite: ‘here and there’, ‘in lots of places’, ‘in different
parts of’,‘somewhere near’ and similar ideas.
The children were running around/about everywhere.
Stop standing around/about and do some work.
‘Where's John?’ ‘Somewhere around/about.’
We also use these words to talk about time-wasting or silly activity.
Stop fooling around/about. We're late.
And around/about can mean ‘approximately’, ‘not exactly’.
There were around/about fifty people there.
‘What time shail | come?’ ‘Around/about eight.’

Note: In American English, around is generally used for all of these meanings.

38 articles: introduction

The correct use of the articles (a/an and the) is one of the most difficult
points in English grammar. Fortunately, most article mistakes do not
matter too much. Even if we leave all the articles out of a sentence, it is
usually possible to understand it.
end
ef
buttertit
Please-can-youtend-me-pound ofweek?
However, itis better to use the articles correctly if possible. Sections 39
to 45 give the most important rules and exceptions.
Most Western European languages have article systems very like
English. You do not need to study sections 39 to 41 in detail if your
language is one of these: French, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish,
Norwegian, Icelandic, Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Italian, Portuguese,
Greek, Romanian. If your language is not one of these, you should study
all of the sections 39 to 45.
To understand the rules for the articles, you need to know about
countable and uncountable nouns. Read 92 if you are not sure of this.