Preposition: A stone came <off, off from, off of> the wall.

M

Mack&Mack

Senior Member
Korea & Korean
Hello helpers,

What is the difference between these sentence below?

A stone came off the wall.

A stone came off of the wall.

A stone came off from the wall.

If all three sentences have the same meaning, what is the point of adding 'of' or 'from' here?

Thanks in advance. =)
 
    • Mack&Mack said:
    Hello helpers,

    What is the difference between these sentence below?

    A stone came off the wall. :tick:

    A stone came off of the wall. :cross::cross::cross:

    A stone came off from the wall. :tick:

    If all three sentences have the same meaning, what is the point of adding 'of' or 'from' here?

    Thanks in advance. =)
    Click to expand...

    Tatz.
     
    Hi

    I've heard off and off from before but I've only ever heard off of in an old song. Sorry, I can't remember the name, but I 'd thought it was used to make the lyrics fit in with the music. When would it be used, please?l
     
    Mack&Mack said:
    What is the difference between these sentences below?

    A stone came off the wall.

    A stone came off of the wall.

    A stone came off from the wall.

    If all three sentences have the same meaning, what is the point of adding 'of' or 'from' here?
    In American English, all three are commonly heard. The most common would be "off of"!! (I know that will surprise many, but it is true. Personally, I don't care for or use the redundant "of," but most AE speakers do.) The second most common would be "came off the wall"; #3 sounds the most unusual to me, but I know I have heard it.

    I have no idea why English uses so many extraneous prepositions!
    Click to expand...
    Click to expand...
     
    On one occassion, I was watching CNN news. The story was about a space shuttle which exploded in the air as it came back to earth. This was witnessed by some poeple on the ground.

    And I heard one of them saying,

    "Look at the chunk coming off of it. What the heck is that?"
     
    Joelline said:
    Mack&Mack said:
    In American English, all three are commonly heard. The most common would be "off of"!! (I know that will surprise many, but it is true. Personally, I don't care for or use the redundant "of," but most AE speakers do.) The second most common would be "came off the wall"; #3 sounds the most unusual to me, but I know I have heard it.

    I have no idea why English uses so many extraneous prepositions!
    Click to expand...

    As the usage note in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary puts it, under the entry for the preposition off of, "The of is often criticized as superfluous, a comment that is irrelevant because off of is an idiom."
    Click to expand...
     
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