lived off/on

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New2grammar

#542899 Fri, 18 Jul 08 04:12 AM

The wife lived off/on her husband's paycheck until she found a job in the foreign country.

Which preposition is correct? Is there any difference?
Thanks.

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

Veteran Member (7,670)

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Prepositions

Philip

#542911 Fri, 18 Jul 08 04:32 AM

'On' is better. We lived 'off'' the land, planting our own vegetables, etc.

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,181)

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New2grammar

#542912 Fri, 18 Jul 08 04:34 AM

Thanks, Philip.

New2grammar

Yoong Liat

#543213 Fri, 18 Jul 08 08:44 PM

New2grammar
she found a job in the foreign country.

It should be 'a', not 'the'. Do you agree?

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (5,989)

Yoong Liat

Grammar

optilang

#543214 Fri, 18 Jul 08 08:47 PM

Yoong Liat
New2grammar
she found a job in the foreign country.

It should be 'a', not 'the'. Do you agree?

It depends on whether we know which foreign country from the full context.

If not then 'a' should be used.

optilang

Joined on Tue, May 13 2008

Poland

Senior Member (2,171)

OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

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Yoong Liat

#543215 Fri, 18 Jul 08 08:51 PM

optilang
she found a job in the foreign country.

If the country is known, shouldn't it be stated rather than referring it as the foreign country?

For example, she found a job in China.

Yoong Liat

New2grammar

#543238 Fri, 18 Jul 08 10:57 PM

She just moved to Italy to be with her husband and as a result, she was jobless. While looking for a job in the foreign country, she was living on her husband's paycheck.

I don't quite understand what annoys you, Yoong Liat. Isn't it a common style? Woudl you repeat Italy again? I guess it's possible but it wouldn't be elegant, IMO.

New2grammar

Yoong Liat

#543584 Sat, 19 Jul 08 05:02 PM

New2grammar
She just moved to Italy to be with her husband and as a result, she was jobless. While looking for a job in the foreign country, she was living on her husband's paycheck.

I don't quite understand what annoys you, Yoong Liat. Isn't it a common style? Woudl you repeat Italy again? I guess it's possible but it wouldn't be elegant, IMO.

Your first sentence: The wife lived off/on her husband's paycheck until she found a job in the foreign country.

optilang

she found a job in the foreign country.

Optilang wrote: It depends on whether we know which foreign country from the full context.

If not then 'a' should be used.

I wrote: If the country is known, shouldn't it be stated rather than referring it as the foreign country?

For example, she found a job in China.

Your second sentence: She just moved to Italy to be with her husband and as a result, she was jobless. While looking for a job in the foreign country, she was living on her husband's paycheck. (This sentence states 'Italy' and so it is fine. Your first sentence didn't mention any country.)

I hope the above explains clearly my objection to 'the' in your first sentence.