All phrasal verbs

about

/əbaʊt/2 verbsVowel-initial — links backwards

The topic under discussion, or a change brought into being.

ABOUT usually marks the subject: think about, talk about, hear about, worry about. In that role it is always inseparable.

Its second job is causation — bring about means to cause something to happen, from the older sense of turning a thing around into a new position.

What it does to the sound

Two syllables, stress on the second: a-BOUT. The opening schwa almost disappears, so think about it runs as “thin-ka-bou-dit” — with the final T of ABOUT flapping into the following vowel.

What ABOUT means

The subject

ABOUT introduces what the thinking or talking concerns.

think abouttalk abouthear aboutworry about

Causing

Something is brought into existence or into effect.

bring aboutcome about

Every verb that takes ABOUT

The complete list — 2 of them. The section above groups the common ones by what ABOUT is doing.

The particle ABOUT — what it does to a verb