{"id":1576,"date":"2014-06-23T16:13:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T22:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1576"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:54:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:54:42","slug":"based-off-is-off-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/pronouns\/based-off-is-off-base\/","title":{"rendered":"Based Off<\/em> Is Off Base"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enough is enough. It\u2019s time to blow the whistle on an obnoxious faux idiom that has the popular culture under its spell. The offending usage is based off<\/em> and its alternate form, based off of<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Both are everywhere. One hears and sees them constantly over the airwaves, in print, and online. A Google search yields these nauseous nuggets: \u201cDr. House is based off of Sherlock Holmes.\u201d \u201cTheir favorite classic movies are based off old fairy tales.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s basically a stretched out HTC One M8, which is what the tablet is based off of.\u201d There are hundreds more.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows the correct phrase, based on<\/em>, which has been around forever. But somehow, on <\/em>became off<\/em>, or worse, off of<\/em>\u2014a compound preposition that all English authorities reject as substandard.<\/p>\n

The logical conclusion is that anyone who says \u201cbased off\u201d doesn\u2019t know what based<\/em> means. As a verb, to base<\/em> means \u201cto form a foundation for.\u201d The noun base<\/em> refers to the underlying part that something rests on<\/em>, not off<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The words base <\/em>and basis<\/em> are closely related and sometimes synonymous. Would anybody say, \u201cThe board meets off a daily basis\u201d?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s really no excuse for based off<\/em>. Whoever coined it was just fooling around or talking too fast. It subsequently caught on with other knuckleheads, and now there are those who defend its legitimacy.<\/p>\n

But based off<\/em> is another example of what might be called \u201cFrankenstein formations.\u201d You know, grab a part from here, another part from over there, and stitch them together to create a monstrously unsuitable word or phrase. Witness how the unholy merging of regardless<\/em> and irrespective<\/em> begat irregardless<\/em>, a gruesome beast that even pedants with pitchforks can\u2019t drive from the countryside.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s high schools and colleges turn out students with negligible language skills, and the result is heedless writing and speech. Once upon a time, people who knew their pronouns said, \u201cYou and I should invite her and her husband for dinner.\u201d Now you\u2019re more likely to hear, \u201cYou and me should invite she and her husband for dinner.\u201d For some perverse reason, those who don\u2019t watch their language tend to say things that are the precise opposite of correct.<\/p>\n

That would seem to explain how based on <\/em>became based off<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two of the options in each sentence below are correct. Can you identify the \u201cFrankenstein formation\u201d?<\/p>\n

1. I am calling in regards to\/as regards\/in regard to<\/strong> the job opening.
\n2. The paragraph comprises\/is comprised of\/is composed of<\/strong> three sentences.
\n3. The novel centers on\/revolves around\/centers around<\/strong> marriage in the eighteenth century.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

1. The phrase in regards to<\/em> is nonstandard.
\n2. The phrase is comprised of<\/em> is incorrect. The word comprise<\/em> means \u201cto be composed of,\u201d so \u201ccomprised of\u201d would mean \u201ccomposed of-of.\u201d
\n3. The phrase centers around<\/em> is nonstandard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enough is enough. It\u2019s time to blow the whistle on an obnoxious faux idiom that has the popular culture under its spell. The offending usage is based off and its alternate form, based off of. Both are everywhere. One hears and sees them constantly over the airwaves, in print, and online. A Google search yields […]<\/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":[10,12,33,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-prepositions","category-pronouns"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576"}],"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=1576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}