Uses of “OF”

Rule 1.  belonging to somebody; relating to somebody

Examples:

a friend of mine, the love of a mother for her child, the role of the teacher, Can’t you throw out that old bike of Tommy’s?, the paintings ofMonet

*When you are talking about everything someone has painted, written, etc. use of. When you are referring to one or more examples of somebody’s work, use by: a painting by Monet

 

Rule 2.  belonging to something; being part of something; relating to something:

Examples:

the lid of the box, the director of the company, a member of the team, the result of the debate

 

Rule 3.  coming from a particular background of living in a place

Examples:

a woman of Italian descent, the people of Wales

 

Rule 4.  concerning or showing somebody/something

Examples:

a story of passion, a photo of my dog, a map ofIndia

 

Rule 5.  used to say that somebody/something is, consists of, or contains

Examples:

the city of Dublin, the issue of housing, a crowdof people, a glass of milk

 

Rule 6.  used with measurements and expressions of time, age etc

Examples:

2 kilos of potatoes, an increase of 2%, a girl of12, the fourth of July, the year of his birth (old-fashioned) We would often have a walk of an evening.

 

Rule 7.  used to show somebody/something belongs to a group, often after some, a few etc

Examples:

some of his friends, a few of the problems, the most famous of all the stars

 

Rule 8.  used to show the position of something/somebody in space or time

Examples:

just north of Detroit, at the time of the revolution, at a quarter of eleven tonight (= 10.45 p.m.)

 

Rule 9.  used after nouns formed from verbs. The noun after ‘of’ can be either the object or the subject of the action

Examples:

the arrival of the police, fear of the dark, the howling of the wind

 

Rule 10.  used after some verbs before mentioning somebody/something involved in the action: to rob/deprive somebody of something.

Examples:

He was cleared of all blame, think of a number.

 

Rule 11. used after some adjectives before mentioning somebody/something that a feeling relates to

Examples:

to be ashamed of, proud of something

 

Rule 12. used to give your opinion of somebody’s behavior

Examples:

It was kind of you to offer.