Grammarian-bot  +  328554 Tue, 13 Feb 07 05:01 AM Can we use "about weather" together as in; 1.        According to a panel of health officials, there has been a great deal of confusion in the medical profession about whether obesity is a biological disorder posing serious health risks or a condition more related to appearance than to health. Are there any rules regarding the use of "about". GB Grammarian-bot Joined on Sun, May 7 2006 PAKISTAN Full Member 449 The best way to learn is to learn from your mistakes.

	CalifJim  +  328582 Tue, 13 Feb 07 07:16 AM Are there any rules regarding the use of "about". There aren't any rules concerning about in particular.  It's a preposition, of which there are many. The about in this sentence goes with confusion. There is a great deal of confusion about this phenomenon. Different nouns go naturally with different prepositions.  You need to learn each combination separately. In addition to confusion about, there's awareness of, relationship to, dependence on, confidence in, and thousands of others. We had no awareness of the situation. This has an interesting relationship to the problem. They showed great confidence in their teachers. ________ With regard to whether, it is simply the marker of an indirect question structure, specifically a yes-no indirect question.  Other markers are the question words what, who, how, where, when, etc.  Such structures can take the place of nouns, so in addition to their uses as subjects and objects, they can be used as objects of prepositions. We had no awareness of [the situation]. We had no awareness of [whether the situation would change soon]. We had no awareness of [how the situation might change]. We had no awareness of [when the situation might change]. This has an interesting relationship to [the problem]. This has an interesting relationship to [whether the problem will ever be solved]. This has an interesting relationship to [when the problem began]. This has as interesting relationship to [what was said about the problem yesterday]. There has been confusion about [the matter] since last month. There has been confusion about [how this matter could have become such a problem]. There has been confusion about [where we can get more information about this matter]. There has been confusion about [whether this matter has been resolved]. Hopefully, that answers your question about whether these structures are correct.  CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,465 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Regards, Prepositions, Nouns, Indirect Questions, Direct Questions

	milky  +  328618 Tue, 13 Feb 07 09:34 AM Similar constructions: The question could be thought to arise of whether they are seeking revenge. You may wish to seek legal advice on whether a contract could be drawn up. We may need to ask questions with regard to whether... milky Regards, Constructions