She frequently writes on/about the imminent dangers of climate change.

[thehammer]

What's the difference here between on and about here?

1- She frequently writes on/about the imminent dangers of climate change.
2- My editor asked me to write on/about a local politician for my next article.

 

[emsr2d2]

The main difference is that using "on" in those sentences is wrong. If you want to use that preposition when talking about writing, you need to precede it with a noun.

I wrote an article on the history of English.
She's writing an essay on the French Revolution.
My editor asked me to write a piece on the dangers of climate change.

 

[Jacaranda]

If they are not nouns, what are "the imminent dangers of climate change" and "a local politician for my next article" in those sentences?

 

[jutfrank]

Here are the nouns that emsr2d2 is talking about:

I wrote an article on the history of English.
She's writing an essay on the French Revolution.
My editor asked me to write a piece on the dangers of climate change.

 

[thehammer]

Thank you.
So I can say writes about the history of English but not writes on the history of English. Am I right?

 

[Rover_KE]

You can say it with 'on', but most native English-speakers wouldn't.

 

[tedmc]

If they are not nouns, what are "the imminent dangers of climate change" and "a local politician for my next article" in those sentences?

You haven't got the what emsr2d2 said.
You write about climate change.
You write an article (noun) on climate change.
With prepositions, we can't explain why one works in a context but not in another, every though they mean the same thing (related to).

 

[jutfrank]

With prepositions, we can't explain why one works in a context but not in another, every though they mean the same thing (related to).

Yes, we can! Different prepositions have different meanings.

The difference between talking or writing about something and talking or writing on something is the degree of 'direct contact' there is between the talking/writing and the subject of the talking/writing. In more simple terms, that's to say that if you 'write on a topic', you focus specifically, and typically rather formally, on that topic. If you 'write or talk about something', you're doing something more general and informal.

Semantically, this difference is small, but in practice the difference in use is much greater. Academics will write papers or give lectures on topics, since there's a close and direct focus. Similarly, journalists may write article pieces on a particular issue and filmmakers may make a documentary on a certain subject.