that is kind of tricky, isn't it? Hi, James from engVid. Got a problem. I've

had students asking about the pronunciation difference between "of"

and "off". And what the words actually means; it's not as simple. It's a

homophone, kinda; homonym, definitely. We're going to go to the board and

figure out the differences. Why? Well, pronunciation isn't just it sounds

different; they actually have different meanings, and will affect the sentence,

or what you're trying to convey or tell someone else. So, why is it important?

For clarity when we're speaking or when we're reading, and it will help you, you

know, without expanding your vocabulary, make you... Well, it's like having a

pocket knife; it will make you much more functional. And that's a good thing,

right? Okay, so how I'm going to do this for you is we'll go through

pronunciation of just a quick one, then I'll talk about the reduction — we call

it reduction of "of", the preposition "of" — and I'll talk about how one...

Well, let's go to the board and do it, shall we? We'll go through it.

So, I'm going to start off by saying: "of" or "off". Let's start with the

beginning "of" — it has, like, a "v" sound. So, there is a different... a

definitive difference in the sound. This is a "v" sound; it sounds like that:

"vvv". The bottom lip goes to the teeth: "vvv", because it vibrates. You hear

that? Vibrate. "Vvv". Okay? And with "off", I like to say this: "Off" has one

extra "f" to remind you to say: "fff" — the "f" sound. So, instead of: "vvv",

the same position and vibrating — that extra "f" reminds me it's an "f", so I

have to go: "fff", as in: "free" or "Frank". Cool? Well, this one doesn't

have that extra "f", so I know it's a: "vvv" sound, like: "vibrate" or "visit".

That'll make it a bit easy. And then at the end, I'm going to go over what we

call the reduction of "of", which gives you a little bit more to play with to

get much more like a native speaker. All right? But let's go through this.

They're both prepositions, to start off with. So, that is one thing they have in

common, and that's what leads to some confusion because if you do not

pronounce... pronounce it properly, you probably aren't aware when you're

writing it down, because they're both prepositions, that you're using them

incorrectly. Now, with "of", it's strict-... it's strictly a preposition

all the way down. "Off" is a preposition — we use it in phrasal verbs — but it

also has adverbial and an adjective meaning, and we'll go over all of those

together. But let's start over here. Now that we've got it down that what they

sound like; the difference, and we're saying they're both prepositions, let's

go through... see how this is further a preposition, and the differences we'll

find on "off". Okay?

So, "of" is a preposition expressing a relationship or a connection between

things; so, they go together. And you can use it like this, an example would

be a bottle on a cap — there's a connection. This is very different from

this, but one twist of the lid, and I can carry my drink because of the

connection that they make. And that's what "of" does — it shows us connections

between things. Now, in this case, it expresses relationship. So, we can say:

"the husband of my friend". Right? I know many people, but this is the

husband of my friend. That's the connection — friendship, and they're

married. Next: "It's on the top of the page." Well, when you have a book or a

magazine, if it's on the top of the page, it's connected. Right? The words

are on the page; the top of the page. So, we've demonstrated relationship

here, and connection here. What else?

We can indicate material. What does that mean? Well, things are not just things;

they're made of things. For instance, when I showed you the water, the water

is made... this water bottle is "made of plastic". The material is plastic. "It's

made of plastic." I can also say, because I think I've had that one there:

"It's made of glass." I can also say something, a small piece could be: "a

piece of glass". Because there is a lot of glass in the universe, this is one

piece. I usually like to say when we talk about relationship, and this goes

something of material, that when you say: "of", it's one piece of a larger

thing. In this case, in the relationship, there's two people, so

it's a larger thing and they're connected; relationship. In this... in

this case, glass — "made of glass" — there's glass in the universe, and this

thing is made of some of that glass; one piece or some of that. Okay?

We can also use "of" to express direction. This is a strange one because

a lot of students aren't aware of it, but if I go: "It's north of the city",

or east... In this case, I say: "north of the highway". So, if the highway's

here, keep going this way — that's where I live; "north of the highway". And if I

say: "east of something", I might go: "Oh, go east of..." So, "east of th

city" — you find the location, city, g east of that direction, so go aroun

that corner. So, we use it t indicate... express direction, we us

"of" to indicate what type of materia something is — "made of cotton". Okay

As I showed: "made of plastic". W expressed relationships: "my... a frien

of my brother's" — right? — or we ca show a connection: "on the top of th

page". And that's when we use "of". An remember, because it only has one "f"

we use the "v" sound for "vibrate" it's in the same position as the "f'

but we vibrate it instead of: "fff", le the air flow. Cool? All right

"Off", "off", "soft". A soft "f" sound; not like the bad "f" word. I knew you

were going there. It's a preposition. So, how does it work as a preposition?

When we use it as a preposition, it expresses: "away from" or "down". So,

I'm here — it'd be away from or down. Okay? So: "It rolled off the table."

Okay? So, when something rolls off the table, it's going away from the table.

In this case, it's not only just going away from the table, it's going down.

So, I've connected the two of them. I wish I could turn off that extra sound

that just happened. Anyway. Next.

We also can use it as an adverb. And an adverb, as you know, is how something is

done. So: "he took off his coat", we actually mean: "he removed it". So, he

moved it; removed it from himself. "He took off his coat" and that's the

adverbial or an example of an adverb that you'll use. What about an

adjective? And this is interesting, because people who are native speakers,

you know, in Australia, or Canada, and whatnot, they know this, but it would...

I understand it sounds strange to somebody who English isn't their first

language. Because: "a bit off", what does that mean? Well, this is describing

something. And it means it's not... When we talk about: "food is a bit off", it

means the food isn't at its perfect state; maybe it's a little bit bad. So,

the milk: "Oo, it's a bit off." It's not any good.

Now, a person can be "a bit off". It's like: "I'm feeling a bit off today",

meaning: "I don't feel very good. I'm not feeling my normal self." Now, if

that extends to: I'm not doing, you know, my usual self with a job I'm doing

— when my whole day is like that, I can say: "I'm having an off day." So, if

you've got a... Michael Jordan, I can at least say that because he was the

greatest — probably is — basketball player. If he's having an "off day", he

may not get 50 or 60 points, or 100 points; maybe he only gets 10 points.

So, he's "having an off day". Now, here's the funny thing: I can feel "a

bit off", like, I don't feel so good today, but still have a good day. But by

saying: "I'm a bit off" means I'm not feeling my normal self. To have the "off

day", remember, it means the whole day is not going well. And don't forget: You

can also use this for food. "That tastes a little bit off, smells a bit off" — it

means it doesn't... it's not really good. Something's wrong; it's not at its

perfect state, or a good state to eat.

Now, I'm going to give you something, as I said, to help you further

differentiate, because we have the reduction of "of". I kept it at the end

because I want to make sure you get the meanings, because if you get that...

this — you're doing pretty well. And if you could say: "one of this" or "one of

that", it's okay. But seeing as I'm here to help you out, because I like you, I

wanted to give you something a little bit better and show you when native

speakers take "of" and they change it. Now, there's an old Three Musketeers

thing, and it goes: "All for one, and one for all". And "all for one" means,

like, everybody in the group — right? — will support one person, and "one for

all" — that person in the group will help... one person will help support the

group.

I've got a really corny, stupid saying, but I was thinking about it and it goes

like this: "'v' for 'vowel' and 'a' for 'fff'". That's why it's Three

Musketeers; they didn't invite me to the party. Okay? So, what do I mean by that?

Well, in the reduction, what happens is when you have a vowel that follows "of"

— okay? — so, I'll give you an example here, because I wrote one on the board.

You can see this, but you won't see it unless I do this. So: "one ov ours".

That's really this: "one of ours". Okay? But because a vowel follows here — okay?

— in English, we reduce it to: "one ov ours", "one ov ours". "That soldier,

he's one ov ours." Okay? It's reduced to a "v", or the "v" sound from "of", and

that's why I started with that in the first place. I needed to get that in

your head, so when I do this, you'll go: "Okay, I got it."

So, what's the "'v' for 'vowel' and 'a' for 'vvv'"? Well, I kind of lied. Now,

watch this. If it's followed by not just the "t–⁠h" I said the "t–⁠h", because

basically every "t–⁠h" will work with this rule. But if it's got a consonant

after, so that could be: "b", "c", or "d" — any consonant — it changes to an

"a" sound. So, we say: "one a them". Right? "He's one ov ours, and she's one

a them." You go: "What? But that has nothing to do with..." Yeah, but that's

how we do it — we do reduction. I have a video where I talk about listening

skills, and how you have to watch for reduction in words. And also, you have

to watch out for joining words; linking words. It seems the same, but it's not.

In this case, there's not a linking; there's a reduction. And sometimes the

linking and reduction go together. I know, nightmare. That's why it's

difficult to learn listening in English, but it's paying attention to things like

this that will help you.

See, when I'm teaching you to say: "of", I want you to say: "one of them". You

need the practice of proper pronunciation. Okay? You do. What I'm

teaching you, this reduction, is because you need to be able to understand a

Canadian, or American, or British speaker when they speak — you think

quickly, but it's not. You're kind of right; it's quick because they do these

reductions that you're not doing. So, by making you say this, you'll be clearly

understood, which is what you really want. You don't want people saying:

"What? What did you say?" By teaching you to do this, you won't be going: "I

don't understand. Can you repeat? Can you repeat?" because it's a native

speaker of English.

A native speaker in any language finds it really kind of annoying when they

have to repeat themselves over, and over, and over again. So, I'm going to

reduce that for you by teaching you this reduction, so that people will like to

speak to you wherever they're from, simply because they're not repeating

themselves over and over. Cool? So, now you know my little secret. And what is

it? It is... Right? "v" for vowels. If it's... if the "of" is followed by a

vowel, you put "v", and "a" for — and I said "the", but you know, really, it

means consonant — if the word is followed, if "of" is followed by a