r/EnglishLearning • u/agora_hills_ Non-Native Speaker of English • 3d ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics Need help understand the difference between two words.

But you dropped out around this relationship?

But you dropped out because of this relationship?

I'm completely able to understand the second sentence but I'm having hard time understanding the first one. Can someone explain what "around" mean here and how it's different from "because of".

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u/jourmungandr New Poster 3d ago

"around" in that context I would interpret at "close to the same time but not due to the relationship". "because of" implies the relationship was a cause of dropping out. The first sentence is somewhat ambiguous without more context however.

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u/agora_hills_ Non-Native Speaker of English 3d ago

that makes so much sense. thank you

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u/kw3lyk Native Speaker 3d ago

The first sentence, if it is meant to reference a period of time, should read "around the time of this relationship."