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The English we speak.

From BBC Learning English.

Hello and welcome to the English we speak. I'm Faye.

And I'm Rob and today we're going to use a common word in a slightly different way.

It's a preposition you've no doubt known for a long time.

Yes, our word is across. Of course, you can say things like,

Rob is sitting across from me or this food is popular across China

But what about this?

Rob are you across the plan for tonight's event?

You're not asking me if I'm sitting across or on the other side from a plan, are you?

No. When we use a cross in this way, it actually, you're familiar with.

If you're across a plan, you're familiar with it.

You know what you need to know about it.

We often talk about being across a subject,

especially a subject that is complex or changing.

It indicates you know all the important things about the subject.

Let's listen to some examples to help clarify how we use it.

Professor Zhang is a specialist in the European economy.

He's across all the latest developments.

Did you come to last week's meeting?

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