I'm curious to find out if it is grammatically correct to use words off of together, for exemple: " He got scared and fell off of the aircraft." I'm sure Americans use it, but does the British people use it? Thank you.
It's certainly said by some people, but I consider it a sign of careless speech and possibly of a poor education.
If you are sitting in an important job interview for a good job, I'd certainly recommend you avoid it.
Best wishes, Clive
StrazdinsI'm sure Americans use it, but does the British people use it?
Yes, it's quite common in BrE. But some people do dislike it, and it's often regarded as non-standard; so (as Clive says) it's probably best to avoid it in certain situations.
For myself, I have always felt a slight difference between e.g.
1. The ball flew off of the bat.
2. The ball flew off the bat.
There seems to be more sense of "off-ness" in #1. It's a little like the difference in attack between vinyl and CD, I suppose.
MrP
It's unfortunate that off of is so maligned because it would make everything so symmetrical. I think that's the impetus for its use. Note how all but one of these is a a pair with the same number of syllables.
into / out of in front of / in back of inside of / outside of up / down onto / off
off of is much inferior to off without the preposition.
Garner, Modern American Usage
-------
It's certainly said by some people, but I consider it a sign of careless speech and possibly of a poor education.
If you are sitting in an important job interview for a good job, I'd certainly recommend you avoid it.
Best wishes, Clive
into / out of
in front of / in back of
inside of / outside of
up / down
onto / off
CJ
we do not say 'inside of', we just say 'inside'
but we do say 'out of the window' (not 'out the window')
i.e both
It fell off of the lorry
It fell off the lorry
could be used to explain where the stolen goods came from.
The second could however be interpreted as a part of the lorry fell off, where the first is more correct if it is something the lorry was carrying.