English prepositions: around, round, about.

Moving in circles.

In this sense, we can use round or around but not about:

Go round/around the roundabout and take the third exit.

I've driven round/around the block three times.

King Arthur's knights sat round/around a round table.

The front door was closed so I went round/around to the back of the house.

I walked round/around the corner and there it was.

The road was blocked so we had to go round/around.

We use round and around when we want to distribute things to all people present:

Can you take a copy and pass the others round/around please? (One for you and one for all the others.)

There weren't enough drinks to go round/around. (Not enough drinks for all people present.)

Exploring a place by looking or travelling through it:

I love looking round/around bookshops.

The boss walked round/around the factory inspecting everybody's work.*

*Meaning here he walked to different places in the factory.

We can use round/around or about to refer to the location of things in a vague way:

I can't find it but I know it's round/around/about here somewhere.

[Pointing to a map] I think my town is round/around/about here.

In a similar way, we can say something or somebody is near. In this sense, we only use around or about as an adverb:

Is Mr Jones around/about? I'd like to speak to him. (Is he near here?)

In this meaning, around/round and not about is preferred when it is a preposition:

Excuse me. Is there a chemist's round/around here?

When we talk about approximate numbers or times, we use around/about:

There were around/about thirty people at the party.

I'll see you around/about eight o'clock this evening then.