How to use 'worth' - Learners' Questions

Learn how to use the word ‘worth’ correctly and speak better English with this free tutorial from BBC Learning English.

Visit our website and try our quiz to see what you’ve learned about this topic: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/english-you-need/unit-7/session-5

Transcript
No way! And then what did she do? Hold that thought. Hi guys! Dan from BBC Learning English here with this week’s Learner Question. Find out what it is after this.

OK! This week’s learner question comes from Roberto from Argentina. He says, would you please explain the difference between these two sentences: This book is worth reading / It’s worth reading this book.

I’ve got good news for you. There is basically no difference in meaning between the two sentences. Both of them we are talking about the value of an object, in this case the book, and there’s only a difference in form, both of which are used quite commonly.

Worth usually follows the verb to be and is followed in turn by an -ing clause. It often goes in sentences which begin with an it. For example, it’s worth repairing the car.

We can move the object to the front of the sentence and use it as the subject, and then we don’t need the it. For example, the car is worth repairing. And there’s no difference between these two sentences.


Worth can also be followed by a noun phrase especially when we’re talking about the monetary value of something. For example, this house is worth a fortune.
We can use other expressions such as a lot or a great deal, etc. to talk about something’s value in terms of its use. But this is not necessarily to do with money. For example, my sister is worth a great deal to me.

Finally, worth appears in lots of idiomatic phrases in English. For example, it’s worth its weight in gold. It’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. For what it’s worth, and, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. But in these cases the word order is fixed, so don’t change them.

I hope that answers your question Roberto. Thank you very much for writing to us. If anybody else out there has a question for Learners’ Questions, you can email us on: learning.english@bbc.co.uk. Please remember to include Learners’ Questions in the subject box and your name and the country that you’re writing from. We can’t possibly answer all your emails, guys. I’m very sorry, we just get too many, but we do read every single one. And, for more information, go to our website: bbclearningenglish.com. I think that’s it. Done? Done? Good. See you next time on Learners’ Questions. Bye.