Right About: Standard Pattern
Right About: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than turning one attested complement into a universal prohibition.
Use “right about” when saying that someone’s judgment or statement about a person or thing is correct.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| say someone’s judgment, belief, or statement about a topic is correct | be right about + noun/pronoun | Use “about” to introduce the topic on which the person is correct. |
| say a prediction or judgment about a clause-like idea is correct | be right about + noun phrase/-ing where natural | Keep the complement focused on the topic or matter judged correctly. |
| express a different sense of “right,” such as entitlement or direction | use the construction for that sense | Do not generalize “right about” beyond the correct-judgment meaning. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Are you identifying the person, thing, or matter about which someone’s judgment is correct?
If yes: Use “right about.”
If no: If “right” means direction, entitlement, or another sense, use the construction appropriate to that meaning.
Examples
You were right about the deadline.
“About” introduces the matter on which the judgment was correct.
She was right about needing more time.
The complement identifies the issue her judgment concerned.
They were right about the source of the error.
The phrase names the topic on which they were correct.
Further guidance
Construction
Use “right about” when saying that someone’s judgment or statement about a person or thing is correct.
Style Boundary
Cambridge directly documents “right about” in the correct-judgment sense; directional, moral, and entitlement senses of “right” are outside this construction.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- RIGHT | English meaning — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Direct dictionary evidence for the “right about” construction in the correct-judgment sense.