Difference between Of and Off
Key difference: 'Of' connects words. It does not actually have a meaning. It is a preposition, and hence it is used to denote a relationship. It just connects words, without actually modifying the meaning. ‘Off’ on the other hand has a proper meaning. In fact, it has various meaning. However, generally it can be considered the opposite of ‘on’. ‘The light is on’; ‘The light is off’. ‘Off’ is very versatile, it can be used as an adverb, a preposition, an adjective and a noun.
The words ‘of’ and ‘off’ look very similar to each other; in fact, until the 17th century, both used to be the same word. However, in today’s common English, the words have two distinct uses. Just a single ‘f’ can change the entire meaning on the sentence.
The word ‘of’ can fulfill several difference functions in a sentence. It can be used to indicate:
- belonging to somebody/something (a member of the team)
- coming from a particular background (the people of Wales)
- to indicate what something contains (a glass of milk)
- a point of reckoning (South of the border)
- construction (Heart of gold)
- possession (Queen of England)
'Of' connects words. It does not actually have a meaning. It is a preposition, and hence it is used to denote a relationship. It just connects words, without actually modifying the meaning.
‘Off’ on the other hand has a proper meaning. In fact, it has various meaning. However, generally it can be considered the opposite of ‘on’. ‘The light is on’; ‘The light is off’. ‘Off’ is very versatile, it can be used as an adverb, a preposition, an adjective and a noun. It can be used in various methods, such as:
- to denote a location (An island off the coast of Spain)
- to describe a situation (She is better off without him.)
- to describe something (The milk smells off.)
- when speaking of machinery (The air conditioning is off.)
- when someone leaves (He is off for the day.)
- and many more…
Further examples of ‘of’:
- I am spreading the top layer of icing on to the cake.
- The manager is a representative of the office leadership.
- Wash your hands of everything.
- John is a man of good family.
- I think I’m dying of hunger.
- Mary has a book of poems.
- Is that idiot of a salesman calling again?
- I’m going to visit the city of love.
- Rupert is one of us.
- There is talk of peace.
- I need three kilos of sugar.
- She was born on the 21st of July in New York.
- There were a lot of people standing in line.
- We're going to reach the top of the hill.
- They live in a block of flats on this street.
Further examples of ‘off’:
- This button is about to come off.
- Take off your hat.
- Turn off the light.
- Take it off the table.
- The gas station is just off the corner ahead.
- The pudding takes a bit off.
- I am scraping the top layer of icing off of the cake.
- The manager is off to a meeting in Chicago.
- Wipe the sweat off your face.
- Take the wrapping off the gift.
- This road branches off to Grove City.
- He took 10% off for all cash purchases.
- Everything was 50% off.
- The alarm goes off at noon.
- My headache passed off soon.
- Mark the pizza off into equal parts.
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Comments
^ LOL
This was informative. Thank you for posting :-)
Ali
Sun, 10/12/2014 - 14:02
Cool story bro (Y)
Tommie
Sun, 08/10/2014 - 23:03
So a guy was trying to insult me and he said "fuck of." I naturally corrected him and told him it was "fuck off." He sent me a link to this website explaining why I was wrong. This website only proved that I'm correct. I literally can't stop laughing right now.
Jamie
Thu, 04/24/2014 - 04:05
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