vacationers
reported seeing sharks just off the coast
we
have two full weeks off from school
I understand
these sentences, but I'm not sure how to use the word off
in examples like these. Could you please explain this usage of this
word?
Roger
Woodham replies:
off
/ on as prepositions
Off
functions as a preposition of position or movement and is the converse
of on. We speak of getting on a bus and off a bus,
taking things off the table and putting them on the floor.
In your first sentence, Tamas, off appears in off the
coast to describe something that is situated near or
next to land, but which is not exactly on the coast. Consider these
other similar examples:
We
live just off The Avenue. Drive along The Avenue almost
to the end and then turn off to the right into a little
cul-de-sac.
The
Inner and Outer Hebrides are situated off the Western coast
of Scotland.
Here
are some examples of other common usages of off as a preposition:
Did
she jump off or fall off the cliff or did someone
push her off? ~ Nobody knows!
I'm
off alcohol just now. A big celebration last Sunday. And
it's put me off my food too.
I
think this crab pate has gone off, you know. It doesn't
taste fresh any more.
Have
you heard? There's 20 % off all CDs at the music shop in
Elm Street next Friday.
You
don't have to keep off the grass in this park. You can
walk anywhere on the grass.
In
your second sentence, Tamas, off describes time that is taken
off work or off school typically because of illness,
tiredness or holiday arrangements. Note that we do not need to say
off from. One preposition, off, is enough here:
We're
getting two extra days off school at the beginning of June
for the Queen's Jubilee.
I
shall have to have a dayoff soon. I can't keep
going like this all the time.
~ Why don't you take the afternoonoff today?
expresssions
with off
We
also speak about people being off-balance, off-colour,
off-duty, doing things on the off-chance and having
off days:
I
caught him completely off-balance and he didn't know what
to say.
She'd
been off-colour for days, but there was no sign of any
real illness developing.
Could
you just do this for me? ~ Sorry, love, I'm off duty at
the moment. ~ When are you on again?
I
decided to take a detour into Paris onthe off-chance
that Amelie might be there.
Brobbins,
the club's leading striker, had an off day and missed three
open goals.
phrasal
verbs with off
There
are many common phrasal verbs with off, such as put off
(= postpone), knock off (finish work), lay off (dismiss
from work, usually temporarily), bring something off (complete
something successfully), polish off (eat something quickly):
I've
been putting it off for weeks, but it's no good, I shall
have to go to the dentists soon.
Aren't
you going to knock off soon? You've been staring into that
computer screen all day.
700
workers will be laid off in the Belfast shipyards following
a decline in orders.
They
had a wonderful time. I didn't think you'd be able to bring
it off.
I
thought the Christmas cake would hang around for weeks, but they
soon polished it off.
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