Reading Theme:
Tell Me About Yourself – Meaning & Usage
Meaning 1：self-introduction request (tell me about yourself)
tell me about yourself
/tɛl mi əˈbaʊt jɔːrˈsɛlf/
phrase
A common question to ask someone to share information about their life or background.
self-introduction request
➕
/sɛlf ˌɪntrəˈdʌkʃən rɪˈkwɛst/
phrase
This phrase is commonly used to ask someone to share information about their life, work, or personality, often at the start of an interview or conversation.
📘 Details & Usage
📖 Root Explanation
A phrase formed from 'tell' (Old English tellan), 'me', 'about', and 'yourself'.
💡 Mnemonic
Imagine a friendly interviewer gesturing to you, inviting you to tell your story.
📖 Example
At the beginning of the interview, the manager smiled and said, 'Tell me about yourself.'
At the beginning of the interview, the manager smiled and said, 'Tell me about yourself.'
🔗 Collocations
Could you tell me about yourself? – A polite version of the request
Let's start with 'tell me about yourself'. – Used to initiate the question as an opening line
Practice answering 'tell me about yourself'. – Refers to preparing for this common interview prompt
🔄 Synonyms
Introduce yourself (phrase) – A direct instruction to share personal information.
Give me your background (phrase) – A request for professional or personal history.
Share a little about yourself (phrase) – A softer, more casual way to ask for self-disclosure.
📖 Cultural Story
Frequently used in job interviews since the mid-20th century, this phrase became a standard polite opener to invite candidates to summarize their professional and personal journey.
Wordbook
Your data is saved in this browser