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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Wordworking: O is for Of

This is my burnout day. It's a good thing we have a guest blogger tomorrow, because A to Z is wearing my down.


Get your feet off of the couch.
I jumped off of the trampoline.
Jim fell off of the toilet again.

O is also for Omitting Of. Shocking, but true: the of after off is unnecessary.

Read the sentences again without of:

Get your feet off the couch.
I jumped off the trampoline.
Jim fell off the toilet again.

That's it for today guys. But tomorrow my agent sister E.M. Caines is here with a hilarious bit on pronouns, possessives, and possessive pronouns. Say that five times fast.

If I got anything wrong, feel free to correct me in the comments. If you're doing the A to Z challenge let me know and I'll come check it out.

Write On:D

16 comments:

  1. A good O word for the A to Z. Well thought out.

    Yvonne.

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  2. Great example of how unnecessary words can be cut. Hang in there. You're getting done with this.

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  3. You're doing a grea job Robin! Another great sentence filler to omit while writing.
    Cover Girls

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  4. When I discovered this it was so liberating! Down with of and that!

    And I hear ya sister! Burn out is right. But you're doing awesome and the end is in sight!!

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  5. This is one the best pieces writing advice I've seen. (Oops, I think I need a couple "of's" there.) But seriously, excellent post!

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  6. When my husband yells, "get off of the couch kids!" I always cringe. Then I correct him. Ha!

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  7. I think I use this one more in my speech than my writing - thankfully. The last thing I need is another over used word, lol.

    You really are doing great, and there's not much longer left now. Yay for guest posts!

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  8. Hello, Robin! Good tip! As Dr. Seuss said: “The writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”

    Happy A to Z-ing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines

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  9. Good one for "o". I'm on A to Z burn out as well.

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  10. Excellent! That is one of my grammar pet peeves. Preach on, sister! Cheers!

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  11. Great tip!

    I hear you on the burn out. :)

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  12. I would have burnt out long before O, if I had not written the posts weeks ago!

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  13. Love the way you teach! And I'm with you... A to Z is wearing me down too. I'm running out of family stories! :) Thanks for visiting my blog today.

    P.S. I'll come back tomorrow to read what agent sis has to say.

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  14. I pre-wrote many posts and am still burned out! Great post though--these are things I'm totally unaware of.

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  15. I can't wait to get off (-of) this A-to-Z cycle! LOL

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  16. hello! popping in from a-z. The 'of' thing always sticks out at me when people use it. :-) The a-z is wearing me down too. It happens every year...two weeks in, I'm wondering why I started this! Love all your tips here...good theme. New follower. Visit me, if you'd like:
    from The Dugout

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