{"id":64,"date":"2014-11-16T21:00:57","date_gmt":"2014-11-16T10:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2017-03-04T12:40:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T01:40:25","slug":"the-difference-between-round-and-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/journal\/notes\/the-difference-between-round-and-around\/","title":{"rendered":"The difference between round and around"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n TLDR: Have you seen how long this article is? Seriously, there’s too many different meanings for these terms, it’s too long to summarise.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So I’m back from my unannounced and unplanned hiatus! Miss me? (I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.)<\/p>\n

Around<\/em> and round<\/em> both have a multitude of different uses, so bear with me while I list them all out, then tell you where not to get them confused!<\/p>\n

around (adverb)\u2014situated in every direction or every side; in order to face another direction; approximately, about; within a location; aimlessly; alive; at a location, present<\/p>\n

\n ‘They’re all around us!’ the pilot screamed. ‘I can’t hold ’em!’<\/em><\/p>\n

The girl turned around to face her bullies.<\/em><\/p>\n

There were around fifty students packed into the small room.<\/em><\/p>\n

The news that the enemy were within a day’s march of the down got around like wildfire.<\/em><\/p>\n

He waved his arm around, indicating the mess on the floor.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘My parents aren’t around anymore,’ the urchin said, shrugging.<\/em><\/p>\n

There weren’t very many children around when Sarah got to school.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

around (preposition)\u2014surrounding, on every side of something; within or to a location; embrace, hug, encircle something; following a vague circular route<\/p>\n

\n The walls loomed high around the city.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘There are many supermarkets like this around the town. It’s nothing special.’<\/em><\/p>\n

He put his arm around his brother’s shoulders, shaking with grief.<\/em><\/p>\n

The tourists decided to walk around the lake.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

round (adjective)\u2014circular, curved; overweight; exact number<\/p>\n

\n The ball is perfectly round.<\/em><\/p>\n

The businessman was squashed against the window when the large, round woman sat down next to him.<\/em><\/p>\n

The wedding guests numbered a nice round fifty.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

round (noun)\u2014going to a series of places in sequence; a sequence of turns in a single event; a canon effect in music; a single shot of a gun<\/p>\n

\n The governess always did the rounds before bedtime.<\/em><\/p>\n

My first job was a paper round.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first round of peace talks did not go well.<\/em><\/p>\n

Germany cruised past all opposition to reach the Round of 16 in the World Cup.<\/em> (Yay!)<\/p>\n

The three-woman choir sang a well-loved tune in a round to please their audience.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘I’ve only got two rounds left!’ the soldier cried in dismay.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

round (verb)\u2014to change direction; to change a number; become circular; verbally attack; collect together<\/p>\n

\n The car skidded as it rounded the bend in the road.<\/em><\/p>\n

The students were told to round down their answers to two decimal points only.<\/em><\/p>\n

The baby’s cheeks rounded as it giggled.<\/em><\/p>\n

The teacher rounded on the disruptive students, her cane in hand.<\/em><\/p>\n

Babe rounded up the sheep.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

round (adverb)\u2014to rotate; to view a whole surrounding area, to provide something to a group or location; to turn and face another direction, to change directions; describing a situation relating to individuals and their actions; surround something; visit someone at home; aimless activity<\/p>\n

\n ‘Round and round the garden like a teddy bear, one step, two step, tickle you under there!’<\/em><\/p>\n

Clarence got out of the car and looked round at the garden.<\/em><\/p>\n

The boy snatched the girl’s school report and passed it quickly round the class, laughing with glee.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wheezing, the old man turned round, putting his glasses down.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘No, you’ve got this the wrong way round! The beast was scared, not angry!’<\/em><\/p>\n

The gaol had high walls all the way round.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘Hey, mate, come round and watch a movie tonight.<\/em><\/p>\n

He was walking round the shopping centre, waiting for someone to notice him.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

round (preposition)\u2014on every side, surrounding; encircle, envelop; move in a vaguely circular motion past an obstacle; hit something in motion; to view an area in its entirety<\/p>\n

\n The gardens round the convention centre were very relaxing.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sally wrapped her arms round her dog’s neck.<\/em><\/p>\n

He ran, dodging round the shorter students as he made his way towards the door.<\/em><\/p>\n

The boy didn’t want another clip round the ear from his father.<\/em><\/p>\n

She went round the kitchen, cleaning every single surface in turn.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Right! So now that I’ve thoroughly confused you, let me try to make some sort of explanation.<\/p>\n

Yes, some of the above uses of around<\/em> also appear under round<\/em>, particularly when they are being used as adverbs or prepositions. This means that, in some contexts, you can<\/strong> use around<\/em> and round<\/em> interchangeably. For example:<\/p>\n

\n The girl turned around<\/strong> to face her bullies.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wheezing, the old man turned round,<\/strong> putting his glasses down.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OR<\/p>\n

\n He put his arm around<\/strong> his brother’s shoulders, shaking with grief.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sally wrapped her arms round<\/strong> her dog’s neck.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Determining which to use in those circumstances is up to you and, indeed, sometimes, one or the other just sounds better.<\/p>\n

However, other clashes in usage could be down to location.<\/p>\n

In US English, round<\/em> is mostly considered the informal form of around<\/em>, with the exception of its use in describing something circular or cylindrical and the few phrases in which round<\/em> is firmly cemented, such as:<\/p>\n

\n The kids ran round and round<\/strong> in circles until they felt dizzy and fell over.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘This shop is open all year round<\/strong> actually.’<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In comparison, British English users tend to use round<\/em> for more definite circular movements, such as:<\/p>\n

\n She went round the kitchen, cleaning every single surface in turn.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While reserving around<\/em> for more vague and abstract situations, for example:<\/p>\n

\n There weren’t very many children around when Sarah got to school.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you haven’t memorised all of the above (and I don’t blame you if you can’t quite get a grip on all those situations), then there are a couple of easy things to remember.<\/p>\n

If you are a US English-user, round<\/em> is mostly considered an informal version of around<\/em>, so whichever word you use could alter the tone of what it is you are writing, but not really the meaning.<\/p>\n

If you are a British English-user, like myself, then we have to pay more attention to the situation and use whichever word most correctly fits into the sentence.<\/p>\n

So… good luck with the above! And happy writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Round and round the mulberry bush!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}