Re: on or about

From: CyberCypher (cybercypher_at_19-16-25-13-01-03.com)
Date: 01/28/05 

Date: 28 Jan 2005 08:35:49 GMT

Harlan Messinger wrote on 28 Jan 2005:

> Tomi A wrote:
>> I listened to a lecture by an Australian fellow living in the
>> USA. All through the lecture - at least I think so - he used
>> "about" instead of "on". " .. these issues about ... this article
>> about ..." and so on. Now, this sounds like a good thing for
>> somebody like me who has problems with English: "about" is much
>> more intuitive than "on". But is it correct?
>
> It's fine. With "articles", "on" and "about" are interchangeable.
>
> He wrote an article on current economic conditions.
> He wrote an article about current economic conditions.
>
> As for "issues", "issues on" is incorrect. Whether to follow
> "issues" with "about" or "of" or to precede it with an adjective
> or follow it with "related to" or "pertaining to", etc., depends
> on what follows.
>
Given that the use of "issues" is almost always buzzwordism these days,
I'd probably have to agree with that, but when someone in the board
room says "The issues on the back burner are going to burst into flame
very soon if we don't attend to them now", I'd say "issues on" is
perfectly correct. 

-- 
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
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