Learn English – Which is proper: “to debate X” or “to debate about X”

grammaticalityprepositionstransitive-verbsverbsword-choice

Which version of this sentence is correct?

  • Doctoral students about to graduate, like me, often debate about what qualities make a successful scientist.
  • Doctoral students about to graduate, like me, often debate what qualities make a successful scientist.

Best Answer

If you are using 'debate' as a noun, you use 'about'~ "There will be a debate about [sth]"

If you are using 'debate' as a verb, you don't use 'about' ~ "They will debate [sth]"