英语语法：169 Do You Overuse "Of"?

Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is nixing the horrid¹ "of."

Almost everyone has a few bad writing habits. They're often the kind of thing experts or even your friends can point to and say "Yup, I know who wrote that." One of my bad habits is that I tend to overuse the word "of." A while ago, I was working on a technical document, and as I read back through it I noticed that there must have been 20 instances of the word "of." Ugh!

Bad Uses of "Of"

"Of" is a preposition, and although it's not an inherently evil word, overusing it can make your writing sound passive and fussy². Here's an example of a bad sentence:

BAD SENTENCE: She is the wife of George.

That's just horrible. It makes me cringe just to say it. It makes me think of Margaret Atwood's book "The Handmaid's Tale," in which the handmaids had names like "Offred" and "Ofglen" to indicate that they belonged to Fred and Glen. They were the handmaids of Fred and of Glen. But I digress.

Here's a better way to say the same thing:

BETTER SENTENCE: She's George's wife.

See? You don't need the "of." The sentence sounds much more straightforward³ without it. She's George's wife.

I'm hopeful that none of you would actually write, "She's the wife of George," or any other such strained sentence, but more subtle unnecessary "ofs" can slip into your writing if you aren't careful. Here's a more reasonable example: Reporting on some bizarre science experiment, you might write, "The length of the remaining string can be used to calculate how far the snail⁴ has moved."

There's nothing really wrong with that sentence, except that it leaves you wondering how to attach string to a snail, but you'd probably get to that later in the paragraph.

Nevertheless, you could tighten⁵ up the sentence by rewriting it to say "The remaining string length can be used to calculate how far the snail has moved." See? "The length of the remaining string," compared with "The remaining string length?" The second version, without the "of," sounds more direct.

Good Uses of "Of"

But remember, I said "of" isn't always wrong. There are good ways to use the word "of." For example, "Please bring me a bucket of water." You have to write it that way to show that you want a bucket that actually has water in it. If you tried to rewrite it the way I did the "length of string" example, you'd end up with "Please bring me a water bucket," which has a different meaning. People would think you were asking for a bucket that is meant to hold water, but is currently empty.

You may remember that in episode 128 I talked about using "of" to show possession. "Of" is especially useful when you are dealing⁶ with double possessives. For example, if you want to talk about a photo that you own, you probably shouldn't say "That's my photo" because people might think it is a photo OF you instead of a photo that belongs to you. You could say "The photo belongs to me," but you could also use an "of" and say, "That's a photo of mine." The "of" indicates possession as does the word "mine," which is what makes it a double possessive.

I also find "of" to be useful when I'm dealing with a complex trail of possession. I'm not certain this is a rule, but I find it easier to follow something like "He's the cousin of my neighbor's brother" than "He's my neighbor's brother's cousin."

Finally, there is at least one idiom where you need an "of": You need it in the phrase "a couple of." You have a couple of marimbas, a couple of friends, and a couple of feather boas. In most similar phrases the "of" is considered unnecessary, and you can leave it out. You jump off the pier⁷, not off OF the pier, for example, but "a couple of" is a special case.

So although "of" can be useful, it can also clutter⁸ up your writing. If using it the wrong way is one of your bad habits, as it is mine, you might want to use the "find" feature of your word processor to search for the word "of" after you've finished your first draft to look for sentences that could stand some rewriting.

Administrative⁹

At our website, quickanddirtytips.com, you can also find a transcript¹⁰ of this show and all the other great Quick and Dirty Tips podcasts. I'm Mignon Fogarty. That's all. Thanks for listening.

 

1 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

2 fussy   

adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的

参考例句：

• He is fussy about the way his food's cooked.他过分计较食物的烹调。
• The little girl dislikes her fussy parents.小女孩讨厌她那过分操心的父母。

3 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

4 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

5 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

8 clutter   

n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱

参考例句：

• The garage is in such a clutter that we can't find anything.车库如此凌乱，我们什么也找不到。
• We'll have to clear up all this clutter.我们得把这一切凌乱的东西整理清楚。

9 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

10 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。