What’s the difference? 1. I don’t know Sarah. 2. I don’t know of Sarah. 3. I don’t know about Sarah. (2024)

• English (US)

I don’t know Sarah = I’m not acquainted with Sarah/I don’t know her personally

I don’t know of Sarah = I’ve never heard of Sarah
(I don’t think anyone would say this though)

I don’t know about Sarah = I don’t know what happened to Sarah/the situation she’s in

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• English (US)

I don’t know Sarah = I’m not acquainted with Sarah/I don’t know her personally

I don’t know of Sarah = I’ve never heard of Sarah
(I don’t think anyone would say this though)

I don’t know about Sarah = I don’t know what happened to Sarah/the situation she’s in

• Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 Thank you! So “know of” is almost not used?

• English (US)

@branduhn Not really in negative sentences, no. But when making the distinction between knowing someone and knowing of someone, you might hear it used.

A: Do you know Sarah?
B: I know of her, but I don’t know her personally.

I think “I know who she is, but I don’t know her personally” might be a slightly more common way to say this though.

• Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 That’s quite helpful! So similarly, I can say “I know of that celebrity, but I don’t know him personally”, right?

• English (US)

@branduhn You could, but no one expects you to know celebrities personally. People would be wondering why you felt the need to say that.

• Simplified Chinese (China)

• English (US)

@branduhn It can, but adding “personally” helps make the distinction clearer.

• Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 Ok. Do you think “take notes” and “make notes” mean the same thing?

• English (US)

@branduhn No, I often see non-native speakers use “make notes” when they mean “take notes”, but that’s wrong.

Take notes = to write down important pieces of information about something you’re learning or regarding something someone said so you can study or refer back to them later

Make a note = to make an effort to remember something (either by writing it down quickly or just ensuring that you’re paying close attention)

“Notes” is never plural in “make a note”.

• Simplified Chinese (China)

• Simplified Chinese (China)

• English (US)

@branduhn I’ve heard of her = I’ve heard her name and maybe some of her accomplishments before/I know who she is
(This is normally used when talking about celebrities)

I’ve heard about her = I’ve heard about something that happened to her

• Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 Thank you! If I say “I’ve heard her”, that would mean I’ve literally heard her voice with my ears, right?

• English (US)

@branduhn Yes, but that’s not a sentence anyone would actually use. The present perfect tense makes it sound weird.

• Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 Then if I literally heard her voice, what tense should I use? Maybe simply “I heard her”?

• English (US)

@branduhn It depends on what you’re trying to say. If you’re just saying that you know what her voice sounds like, then use “I’ve heard her voice before”. “I heard her” means “I heard what she said”.

Basically, if you’re going to use the present perfect tense, you need to be specific about what you’ve heard because “I’ve heard her” is awkward and hard to interpret, especially without context.

• Simplified Chinese (China)

• English (US)

@branduhn Only 1 and 3 are natural in that case.

• Simplified Chinese (China)

• English (US)