Find out about

No. 'Find out the changes' is not natural. 'About' is a preposition. The prepositional phrase 'about changes...website' is an adverbial complement.

"about" suggests that you will find explanatory and background information, rather than just a bald list of things that have changed. Even if this is not really the case, "about" nevertheless acts as a padding word that helps to "soften" the sentence and make it seem more friendly and inviting.

Thanks MM and Mr Wordy.

However, let me admit it franky -- I am still unable to make out the difference between "find out" and "find out about", if there is any.

Would you please give a few examples?

Hi guys.

I've found out recently that sharks can feel blood farther than few kilometres' distance from where it really is. (You have discovered it).

Find out about the changes in the schedule, else you might miss you exams.

In your example, as Mr.Wordy mentioned, you can discover something more than just the changes. My Collins CoBuild says find out s

FandorinBut I'm also wondering whether I can say or not: I found out the changes in his behaviour.

Me, too! Now you've even got a native speaker spinning his wheels over this question! I wouldn't say it. You can only "find out" facts, it seems to me.

It seems to me that "to find out" can be quite a troublesome phrasal verb.

Y

Yes, it does! Find out in that context approximates to "perceive" or "realize" or "make out" in some sense, doesn't it?

Thank you so much, CJ.[Y]

By the way -

CalifJimNow you've even got a native speaker spinning his wheels over this question!

Does it mean I forced even a native speaker to get into it?

The reference is to trying to drive your car off a slippery patch of ice or mud. The wheels spin, but you don't get anywhere. You are stuck! It's an idiom that expresses a lot of activity, but no progress! That is, the wheels in my brain were spinning, but it took me a while before I got "out of the mud" and wrote my answer.

CalifJim It's an idiom that expresses a lot of activity, but no progress! That is, the wheels in my brain were spinning, but it took me a while before I got "out of the mud" and wrote my answer.

I'm not sure if my usage here might be atypical. To me, "Find out the changes to our website" is acceptable (though "about" certainly makes the sentence smoother, and, per CJ, "find out" followed directly by a noun is often plain wrong).


I notice the following surprising results at Google Book Search:

613 on "find out the changes"

134 on "fi

Usage is always interesting and often surprising. On an open-parametered Google search I get:

118,000 for "find out the changes"

137,000 for "find out about the changes"

Like Jim, I still feel the first phrase to be odd, and like Jim, I cannot find my way to any clear, non-anecdotal guideline.