Snap Language

You ask someone something when you ask that person a question or make a request.

You can also ask people for something. This means you want something from them. For example, you can ask someone for help or you ask your teacher for extra time.

You can ask (someone) about something. You want to know the topic.

Finally, you can ask someone to do something. No preposition is needed.

Examples: ask

• Please ask John to leave.
• May I ask you a question?
• I don’t know the answer. Why don’t you ask the teacher?

ask about

• The teacher is asking questions about the lesson.
• The students are asking many questions about the course.
• May I ask you about your project?

Examples: ask for

• The students are asking for more time to finish the exam.
• Some students are asking for a second chance.
• Children sometimes ask their parents for money to buy things.

Examples: ask someone to do something

• (To the teacher) Mr. Smith, may I ask you to explain the lesson again?
• I’m going to ask Maria to come to my birthday party.
• The students are asking the teacher to help them with their homework.

When your ears perceive sounds, even when you are not focusing on them or trying to pay attention to them, you hear those sounds.

When you learn about some information about people or things, you hear about something.

Examples: hear

Examples: hear about

• I often hear about John when I talk to his mother.
• I seldom hear about my country in American TV news.
• I heard about the accident on the radio yesterday. (Note. This example uses the past tense.)

When you “listen to someone or something,” you pay attention to sounds with your ears. You want to hear something, so you use your ears to listen to it.

When you “listen for someone or something,” you pay attention to a specific sound or thing. You are waiting or expecting to hear that very specific sound, so you listen for it until you hear it.

Examples: Listen for

• John is coming to visit today. I’m listening for his car outside.
• When you listen to the weather on the radio, you must listen for information about your city.
• Students listen for the bell to know when class starts.

Examples: listen to

• Listen to this song. It’s beautiful.
• I listen to the radio every day.
• I hear John speaking to his mother on the phone, but I’m not listening to their conversation.

You hear sounds with your ears; it do not need to be paying attention to the sounds.

When you listen, you are paying attention to the sounds. You listen to the sounds.

Compare the Sentences

• I hear music coming from John’s room.
• John is listening to music in his room.

When you “meet people,” it means you all come together for the first time. It can also mean that you see people you already know. Sometimes you plan to meet people, for example, at a restaurant, at the movies, at a park, etc.

When you “meet with people,” you plan to meet them to have a meeting or discussion (for example, at work).

Sometimes the difference between “meet” and “meet with” is very small.

Examples: meet

• I will meet John at the park after class.
• She meets her friends for coffee every Saturday.
• I love meeting new people when I travel.

Examples: meet with

You show someone something.

You show something to someone.

When using pronouns, you must use the preposition. For example, you can say, “Show John the book” or “Show him the book,” but you must say, “Show it to him."

Examples: show, show to

• I’m going to show the teacher my homework.
  I’m going to show my homework to the teacher.
• I want to show my parents my new car..
  I want to show my new car to my parents.

Examples using pronouns

• The teacher is going to show us the book.
  The teacher is going to show it to us.
• I’m going to show you my pictures.
  I’m going to show them to you.
• Show me your new shoes.
  Show them to me.

You can say something stops. That means it comes to an end. The action ends.

You can also say stop doing something.

When you stop someone from doing something, you make sure it does not happen or continue happening. You prevent it from happening

Examples: stop

• Does the bus stop here?
• The rain will stop soon.
• Does this train stop in Springfield?

Examples: stop (doing)

Examples: stop from

You can talk to someone about something. To “talk to” someone means you want to speak to that person. It also means you want to have a conversation or to discuss a topic with them.

If you just ”talk” (without a preposition), you simply speak or discuss something.

Examples: talk

• Valentino is very quiet. He doesn’t like to talk. (he doesn’t speak very much)
• What’s the problem? Do you want to talk? (talk about what is wrong)

Examples: talk about

• Chris, do we need to talk about our plans for tomorrow?
• Can we talk about the problem? (discuss)
• What would you like to talk about?

Examples: talk to

• I need to talk to my teacher tomorrow.
• She talks to her friends every day.

Using both in the same sentence

• I need to talk to my teacher about my assignment tomorrow.
• She talks to her friends about her problems every day.

When you think, you have ideas or thoughts in your mind.

When you think about something, you consider it in your mind. Sometimes you think about it carefully before making a decision. You can also think about doing something.

When you think of people or things, bring the them to your mind. You remember or consider them.

Examples: think about

• Think about the question for a while before answering.
• I’m thinking about going to the movies this weekend.
• You are very quiet. What are you thinking about?

Examples: think of