Learn English – difference in meaning between “pleased with” and “pleased about”

prepositional-verbsprepositions

They say

I'm pleased with your work \ performance (the noun implies duty or
effort)

I'm pleased about your wedding \ promotion (the noun is about some event)

Is there a difference in meaning between "pleased with" and "pleased about"?

Best Answer

"Pleased with" normally precedes something that you have an active interest or control in.

"Please about" is more appropriate when the subject is not something that you have any active interest or control in.

For example:

I am pleased with my exam results.

Your exam results are something you personally worked for, so you are rightly pleased with them.

I am pleased with my son's exam results.

A parent also has an active interest in their child's education, so it wouldn't be surprising for them to say they are pleased with them.

I am pleased about your exam results.

Someone without an active interest may politely express their own pleasure upon hearing the news by saying they are pleased about them.


With your examples of performance and promotion, I would say:

I am pleased with your performance.

I would imagine this is the most likely version, as I can't imagine anyone who wasn't actively interested in your performance to comment on it; however "about" could be correct in other contexts.

I am pleased about your promotion.

I would expect this to be most likely, as a promotion is very personal to the individual promoted and not much benefit to anyone else.

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