Of or from

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Magic79

#322110 Tue, 30 Jan 07 08:45 PM

He is of a foreign country.

He is from a foreign country.

What is your say on "of" and "from" in the preceding examples? Any differences in meaning? Could you give me more examples, rules of thumb, pointers on when to use of and from?

Here are some examples to jump start.

The president of the United States. (leader of the USA)

The president from the United States. (comes from the USA)

Intermilan of Italy is playing Manchester of England. (????)

Intermilan from Italy is playing Manchester from England. (????)

Magic79

Joined on Sun, Jul 2 2006

Full Member (174)

Ant_222

#322111 Tue, 30 Jan 07 08:51 PM

Erasmus of Rotterdam
In French it's d'Rotterdam
In Gemran — von Rotterdam

EDIT:

"Of" means possession.

"X is from Y" may imply that X somehow (in a way) belongs to Y.

The philosopher Erasmus lived in Rotterdam, which made him be associated with the town.

Ant_222

Joined on Sun, May 21 2006

Podolsk, Russia

Contributing Member (1,584)

CalifJim

#322162 Tue, 30 Jan 07 10:58 PM

There is some overlap in the use of of and from. of often has to do with possession and belonging, but often in a sort of general, non-descript way. from has to do with origin, source, and (possibly) movement in a more specific way.

CJ