Show Frank Colby's Just Take My Word for tor It OFF OF This weeks week's Slip o 0 the Tongue The flyer got off of his course No o. o Off of is stigmatized stigmatized stigmatized stigma stigma- by as dialectical and illiterate usage Better say The flyer got off his course Wrong She got down off of the elephant This recalls the ancient a and n d ungrammatical wheeze that One doesn't get down off of an elephant one gets down off of a duck Right She got off the elephant Wrong We live a few miles off of the highway Right We live a few miles of off or from the highway Wrong We taught the mankey monkey monkey mon man key to eat of off of a plate Right We taught the monkey to eat from a plate Wrong I told him to get of off of my property Right I 1 told him to o get off my property Wrong We bought the apples ap ap- ap pIes ples off off off-of of a farmer Right We bought the apples from a a. farmer What's wrong with this sentence sentence sentence sen sen- tence Will you listen at him bragging There are two mistakes mistakes mistakes mis mis- takes here First one doesn't listen at a person one one- listens to him Second the pronoun possessive his should be used instead of him Correct Will you listen to his bragging 1 If you cannot decide whether to say He likes to hear me or my singing she approves of John or Johns John's taking me to dinner I 1 hate to think of you or your doing that etc you need my simple key to this knotty problem My free pamphlet instantly makes this usage perfectly clear Send Senda a stamped self-addressed self envelope envelope envelope en en- to Frank Colby In hi care of The Salt Lake Telegram Ask for Possessive Pronouns Pamphlet Please make sure your return envelope bear bears cent 3 stamp 5 |