About Expressions

Like most prepositions, About has several meanings and can be used in many expressions. You are probably aware of the most common uses already.

Subject: What is the movie about? What are you talking about?
Approximation: We will leave at about 7pm. It will cost about $50.

However, there are a few additional uses for about. You may heard them before, but practice using the expressions too.

About to is used for actions that will happen in the immediate future. Example: #1) I was about to call my brother. #2) You can't fire him. He's about to have a new baby.

About ready to is a synonym of about to. It is used for actions that someone is preparing to do. Example: #1) Are you about ready to leave? #2) He was about ready to quit before the boss calmed him down. #3) He was so angry that he looked about ready to kill that dog.

While "What is it about?" can be used to ask about the subject of something, you can use the expression "What is it about ________ that...?" to get more detailed information about something.

Several examples follow with two sentence formats:
#1a) What is it about her that you like?
#1b) What do you like about her?
#2a) What is it about your ex-boyfriend that you hate so much?
#2b) What do you hate so much about your ex-boyfriend?
#3a) What is it about that movie that makes it so good?
#3b) What's so good about that movie?
#4a) What is it about Venice that makes the city so special?
#4b) What's so special about Venice?
#5a) What is it about the Spring that makes it so magical?
#5b) What is so magical about the Spring?