{"id":1505,"date":"2014-04-16T15:49:50","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T21:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:33:12","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:33:12","slug":"more-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/effective-writing\/more-of\/","title":{"rendered":"More Of<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month we observed some of the ways that little of <\/em>can bring big trouble to students of English. Unfortunately, we aren\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n

We previously discussed certain sentences in which the verb is derived not from the subject, but from the object of the preposition of<\/em>. Here\u2019s an example: She is one of those people who love to travel. <\/em>Not loves<\/em><\/strong> to travel<\/em>. The verb is determined by people<\/em>, not by one<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Similarly, with many words that indicate portions\u2014some, most, all, <\/em>etc.<\/span>\u2014we are guided by the object of of<\/em>. If the noun after of <\/em>is singular, we use a singular verb: Some of the pie is <\/strong>left.<\/em> If it\u2019s plural, we use a plural verb: Some of the books are<\/strong> gone.<\/em><\/p>\n

With collective nouns<\/strong> such as crowd<\/em> or family<\/em>, the speaker or writer has leeway since such words, though singular in form, denote more than one person or thing. Therefore, Most of my family is<\/strong> here<\/em> and Most of my family are<\/strong> here<\/em> are both grammatical sentences.<\/p>\n

Other areas of concern:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Off of<\/strong> \u00a0<\/span>Drop of<\/em>. Off of<\/em> is not a valid phrasal preposition<\/strong>. In sentences like Keep off of the grass <\/em>or You ought to come off of your high horse<\/em>, the of<\/em> adds nothing.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Outside of \u00a0<\/span><\/strong>We stood outside of the building<\/em>. Make it outside the building<\/em>. In sentences indicating location, \u201cof<\/em> is superfluous with outside<\/em>,\u201d says Roy H. Copperud. His fellow English scholar Theodore M. Bernstein calls outside of<\/em> \u201ca substandard casualism.\u201d With sentences where outside of <\/em>is not literal, such as Outside of you, I have no one<\/em>, there are better alternatives available, including except for, other than<\/em>, besides<\/em>, apart from<\/em>, and aside from<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 All of<\/strong> \u00a0<\/span>When a pronoun is involved, the of <\/em>is essential, as in phrases like all of it<\/em> and all of us<\/em>. When a possessive noun<\/strong> is preceded by a <\/em>or an<\/em>, or has no modifier, again the of<\/em> is required: all of a book\u2019s wisdom<\/em>, all of history\u2019s lessons.<\/em> But when a noun is preceded by an adjective or by the<\/em>, it\u2019s leaner and cleaner to drop the of <\/em>in all of<\/em>: all my books<\/em>, all the lessons of history.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 Out of \u00a0<\/span><\/strong>The of<\/em> is necessary; only bumpkins say Get out my house<\/em>. Two notable exceptions: door<\/em> and window<\/em>\u2014no of<\/em> is needed in We hurried out the door <\/em>or I stared out the window<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Couple of<\/strong> \u00a0<\/span>The of<\/em> stays. This includes phrases such as a couple of things<\/em>,\u00a0a couple of hundred things<\/em>. \u201cOmitting the of<\/em> is slipshod,\u201d says Bryan A. Garner in A Dictionary of Modern American Usage<\/em>. \u201cUsing couple<\/em> not as a noun but as an adjective is poor usage.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s enough of <\/em>for a while. Amazing the confusion that one pint-size preposition can cause.<\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/p>\n

Fix any problems with of <\/em>that you come across.<\/p>\n

1. One of those trees that\u2019s been around for over a century is standing just outside of the restaurant.<\/p>\n

2. It\u2019s a little place right outside of San Rafael, just off of Route 101.<\/p>\n

3. He threw all of himself into making all Bonnie\u2019s family comfortable.<\/p>\n

4. I was looking out of the window as a couple dozen people rushed out the burning building.<\/p>\n


\nPop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. One of those trees that have<\/strong> been around for over a century is standing just outside<\/strong> the restaurant.<\/p>\n

2. It\u2019s a little place right outside <\/strong>San Rafael, just off<\/strong> Route 101.<\/p>\n

3. He threw all of himself into making all of <\/strong>Bonnie\u2019s family comfortable.<\/p>\n

4. I was looking out <\/strong>the window as a couple of<\/strong> dozen people rushed out of<\/strong> the burning building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month we observed some of the ways that little of can bring big trouble to students of English. Unfortunately, we aren\u2019t done yet. We previously discussed certain sentences in which the verb is derived not from the subject, but from the object of the preposition of. Here\u2019s an example: She is one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,12,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-effective-writing","category-prepositions"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}