Thread: round & around

Is there any difference between "round" and "around" as prepositions? While reading my exercise-book it seemed to me that certain verbs needed either "round" or "around" after them. For example "to revolve around the Earth", "to move round the Earth". But most probably it is wrong because I found "to revolve round the Earth" in online dictionary.

I would have used "around" in all of those circumstances, actually. I suspect that this may be a regional thing. Perhaps "round" is more commonly used in England? Any Brits wanting to weigh in on this?

Both around and round are used.

round is generally used to refer to an objects shape, where as around is generally used to refer to an objects movment.

Round would be understood in both contextes though.

Some one correct me if I'm wrong.

Round is an adjective and Around is an adverb.
Round describes a noun. It means circular........the round ball, the dish is round. It can also mean a completed set of events in a game or sport......a round of golf, a round of poker.

Around is used to describe a circular motion or movement........I walked around the chair, we traveled around the Earth.

To say "to revolve round the Earth" would be poor English, although many local dialects would use this form.

Originally Posted by JB

Round is an adjective and Around is an adverb.
Round describes a noun. It means circular........the round ball, the dish is round. It can also mean a completed set of events in a game or sport......a round of golf, a round of poker.

Actually, according to Dictionary.com (I don't have my proper paper dictionary with me) round can be a transitive verb, an intransitive verb, a noun, an adjective, OR a preposition. Craziness. But anyway:

"adv.
1. In a circular progression or movement; around.
2. With revolutions: wheels moving round.
3. To a specific place or person: called round for the pastor; sent round for the veterinarian. "

The only one I would PERSONALLY use would be the 3rd, but I think, again, that that is just a function of the area in which I learned English. I bet "round" as an adverb is much more common in other areas.

Thanks to everybody. So I understood there's no difference in general.
I have another question as I see you are so willing to help me. That's about pronunciation. Sometimes -ed is pronounced as "id" (wicked), sometimes as "t" (voiced). Why?
And how is "gases" pronounced - as "geisiz"?

My hard back Webster's has a whole page on round. It states,"in the U.S. round is usually superseded by around, where in Great Britain round is preferred for most senses".

I have been teaching a friends kid to read, and some times the English language just dose not make sense

ed is id when it comes after t and d like wicked, wasted, studded, actually it's not alwasy id in some dialects it can be ad or ed, it becomes t after consonants like s, words like missed, kissed, pressed, in all of those ed is t, I think it's amtter of saying ti the easiest way like there's no way you can just say wasted without the ed that sounds like id because in that case you'd get waste which would be the present tense, but saying kiss ed is pointless cuz kist is different enough from kiss to signal you that it is past tense

She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes.

Be sure you sing that with an Appalachian accent.

Thanks to everybody. And I have a question about pronunciation: "gases" is pronounced as "geisiz"? And "months"?

It would sound more like Гэссыз. Мантс.

Round vs. Around
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When the meaning is "around": (adv.) In the U.S., we primarily use "around". The usage of "round" would be recognized as either rural/hick/Southern, or as British.

Samples:

He went around the store.

He went round the store.

Note that both sentences above have two distinct meanings possible:

"He was walking down the street and he avoided the store."

"He was inside the store and walked in various places inside the store."


When the meaning is "round": (adj.) This is an adjective describing the circular nature of a thing. You cannot use "around" in this case.

Sample:

The ball is round.


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Regarding plurals:

"-ed" is pronounced as "t" after "s" only. Note that after "z", it is pronounced as "d".

Missed - /mist/

Whizzed - /wizd/

"-ed" pronounced as "id" after a "k": Only if it's not the past tense of a verb!!!!! Note that many areas still pronounce this as "ed"

Wicked (evil) - /wiked/ or /wikid/

Wicked (past tense of "to wick") - /wikd/

"To wick" means to draw away water. Good absorbent clothing for athletic use will wick away your sweat. This use gives us the word "wick", as in the wick of a candle.

Similar to "wicked (evil)" is "naked".

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Gases: pronounced /gassez/, not /gay-sez/. You rarely change the sound of the underlying noun when making it plural.

Note that "gases" is a plural noun, and "gasses" is a third-person present verb. The verb "to gas" can mean to apply gas (as in anaesthesia) or to fill up with gas (as in filling your car). You cannot switch the spellings.

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Months sounds exactly like month, with an "s" sound added at the end. Not a "z" sound!

I think she wanted to know whether the o in months is a short a or long o. It's actually a short u, but that would be hard to represent in Russian. It sounds like "cut."

Thanks. I understood.
Regarding "months" - I find it difficult to pronounce "th", at least teachers were always angry with me, but "ths" is much much harder

At first glance, you'd think Russians would have the upper hand when trying to deal with English consonant clusters. Speakers of Romance languages have nothing like it, but Russian has "Zdravstvuytye"!

But we have "th", which is hard enough on its own. And sandwiched between "s"s, it gets really hard!

If you think "months" is hard, try "fifths" and "sixths"!!!

To say the sound properly, you have to stick out your tongue and almost bite it. My 5-year-old just stopped saying "fink" and started saying "think", and he figured it out by saying it slowly and sticking his tongue out a little too far. Once he got comfortable, he stopped looking like he was giving me a raspberry.

Also know that it's hard for us to say, too. Here's one of the hardest tongue-twisters to say in the English language:

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

Say that ten times fast!

I wonder if flamboyantly gay Russians have a hard time with it.

lmao

btw my Russian mates have real difficulty with the word "crisps" (plural of crisp, English for potato chip) for some reason. Just can't wrap their lips around that "sps" sound.

But how do you, Aaa, really say these "fifths" and "sixths"?
As to me I pronounce "Zdravstvuytye" as "zdrastvuyte" or "zdras'te"