When I found out that the company picnic was off, I drove off from
the park and went to the library to study. Since I was off today,
I thought I could make good use of my time. Plus I was
a little off yesterday and couldn't focus on studying. Let's discuss Welcome to another
Happy English podcast, coming to you from New York City, and here's your
English teacher, Michael. All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone.
It's Michael here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
This is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven twenty eight. Seven ways to use
off. Off is one of those interesting words in English that has a number
of meanings and uses just like what I mentioned at the beginning of this episode.
So don't turn this off, because today I'm gonna show you seven ways
we use off. Let's get the ball rolling. First of all, you
can use off with a verb of motion to show that someone or something moved
away from a place. You can say things like walk off, drive off,
dash off, and so on. The singer high five the audience members
when she walked off the stage. Ten years ago, Frankie got in his
car and drove off. We haven't seen or heard from him since. When
I accidentally hit the handle of the frying pan. It flew off the stove
and landed on the floor. Next up, when something like an event or
a gathering is off, it's been canceled. Wow, look at that rain,
it's poring. No wonder our picnic is off. I just got an
email saying that this afternoon's meeting is off. I wonder what happened. I
just found out that Donna's wedding is off. Have you heard anything about that.
You can also use be off to mean absent from school or work.
Johnny's caught a cold, so he's off from school today. The company gives
us five personal days that we can use if we need to be off for
any reason. I was off all last week, so I have so much
to do to catch up this week. And we also use be off when
we talk about leaving a place, starting a trip, or a race.
As soon as they fired the starting gun, the runners were off and the
marathon had started. Well, that was a long day of work. I'm
off see you guys tomorrow. I'm so excited. In just two more days,
I'll be off to Paris. You can use be off and get off
to say that someone or something is not in the right place during the game.
His ball was a little off the target. We got off the topic
during the class. They always get off track during the meeting. When you
say that a person is off, it means that they are feeling unwell or
not feeling themselves. With this meaning, we tend to use phrases like a
little off or a bit off. It's hard to concentrate on my work.
I guess I'm a little off today. Jack said that because he has a
hangover, he's a bit off today. Listen, I'm sorry about that mistake,
but I got a lot on my mind these days, and I'm a
little off today. And finally, in casual conversational English, when you say
that someone is a bit off or someone is a little off, it means
that person's behavior is weird or crazy or not normal. There was a guy
on the subway that was a bit off, so I decided to change my
seat. Did you talk to that guy, Dylan at the party? I
think he was a little off. My new neighbor likes to walk around outside
without his shirt on. He seems to be a little off. Keep in
mind. The best way to remember this and any other word or phrase in
English is to take that word or phrase, write it in a sentence that's
true for you, true in your world, and then memorize your sentences by
the way. Can you imagine getting the chance to practice this kind of English
with me directly? You can get more practice using your English when you join
my podcast Learner's Study Group. There you can make new friends, join us
for live group lessons every week where we practice these podcast lessons together. Plus
you get access to the PDF, transcript and audio download for every Happy English
podcast in the past and in the future. And on top of that,
each episode has exercises where you can practice this English point with your speaking and
writing checked by me. To learn more, just visit Myhappy English dot com
and choose podcast lessons seven twenty eight. Remember, learning another language is not
easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you all on
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