Round vs Around

A conversation between my sister and me some time back.

Me:  I turned around and saw…

Sister:  Shouldn’t it be ‘turned round’?

(I looked at her blankly.)

Sister:  I mean, if you turn around, you would have turned a complete circle, 360˚,      and you would be facing where you were originally facing, wouldn’t you?

Me: I think they mean the same thing.

Sister:  Are you sure?

I wasn’t, and as an English teacher, I should know better, shouldn’t I? So I took it upon myself to check.

Short answer for those who couldn’t care less: There is not much difference between the two words and generally, they can be used interchangeably.

For the grammar Nazis amongst us:

According to the 11^th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, ‘around’ is both a preposition (3 definitions) and an adverb (6 definitions). In the exchange above between my sister and me, it is used as an adverb and it means ‘to face in the opposite direction’.

The same tome explains that ‘round’ can be an adjective (6 definitions), a noun (7 definitions), an adverb (5 definitions), a preposition (4 definitions) and a verb (also 4 definitions).

So ‘round’ can also be used correctly in the exchange above. Used in the context above, it would be an adverb and it means ‘to rotate and face in the opposite direction’.

The good dictionary goes so far as to explain that in British English, the words ‘round’ and ‘around’ are interchangeable in many contexts. There is, however, a general preference for ‘round’ to be used for definite, specific movement (I turned round; the red car came round the corner), while ‘around’ tends to be used in contexts which are less definite (I wandered around for ages; a rumour circulating around the cocktail bars).

In US English, the normal form is ‘around’. ‘Round’ is generally used in certain fixed expressions such as all year round and they went round and round in circles.

So now you know. And if someone questions you on your usage of ‘round’ or ‘around’ in the future, you can confidently say that they are interchangeable.   ;)