The preposition 'Of':
Meaning:
Generally speaking, 'of' has the same meaning as 's. They both talk about
Possession:
- My brother’s wife comes from Scotland. (My brother has a wife)
- My sister’s car was made in the UK. (My sister has a car)
- British people’s pets are well looked after. (British people have pets)
- England’s flag is a red cross on a white flag. (England has a flag)
Animate and Inanimate:
- My brother, British people and England, are all animate things (things that are alive, like people, animals, countries and organisations).
* But inanimate things (things that are not alive) can not ‘possess’ things that are alive:
- We can’t say ‘the car’s driver’. We must say ‘the driver of the car’
Inanimate things normally can’t ‘possess’ other things
- We can’t say ‘the car’s door’. We must say ‘the door of the car’.
Countries:
And we believe people are more important than countries, so we say:
- The people of the UK (not the UK’s people)
The UK doesn’t possess people. People come from the UK.
North, South, East and West:
We also use ‘of’ with North, South, East and West:
- Scotland is in the north of the UK. (Not the UK’s north)
Quantities
We also use ‘of’ to talk about quantities of something:
- To make English tea, you need a teaspoon of sugar and a drop of milk.
(Not a sugar’s teaspoon or a milk’s drop)
Subject: The preposition 'Of' 
Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:00 pm
