of, off

of, off
Until a few centuries ago, of and off represented different pronunciations of the same word. Today, of has a basic meaning of "derived or coming from," whereas off means "at or to a distance from a nearer place," "no longer attached or supported." In constructions indicating possession, of may be followed by an uninflected noun (friend of my brother) or by a noun or pronoun in the possessive case (friend of my brother's, friend of his). One objection to the use of of is that it performs too many functions to be really useful. Another is that it is often used unnecessarily: one should omit of in expressions like "stay off of" and "alongside of." Of is also used illiterately as a substitute for have (must of, should of). Similarly, off should not be followed by from or of: "He walked off (not off from or off of) the stage." Off is illiterate when used to indicate a source; say "I got a meal from (not off) her." Avoid such clichés or slang terms as "off and on," "on and off,"offbeat ("unconventional"),"off the record," and ofay ("a white person").

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

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