of

It has been shown, through corpus studies, that the second most common word in all genres of English is the word "of". One would think that such frequency should lead to more practice - apart from such examples as a pint of beer, a bottle of milk - of it in class than is presently given. It helps in the building of (good example) noun phrases. I wonder why more practice is not given of this seemingly insignificant word.

e.g.

a friend of mine
one of the main causes of
new members of staff
the death of President...

It seems impossible to write English well without the ability to use of-expressions, doesn't it?
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True communicative competence cannot be achieved by knowledge of grammar and lexis alone.

hmm, "of" implies specificity. But practicing without it could be fun as well....

<<a friend of mine
one of the main causes of
new members of staff
the death of President... >>

my friend
one main cause for
staff new members
President's death

<staff new members> ??

Is that English?

Remember, Guest, I'm not suggesting that there isn't enough practice of structures without "of", I'm saying that there isn't enough practice of "of"

It should be "new staff members".

**new staff members**

My bad. But really, I have heard it before >.<


About the "of" expression, being it the 2nd most common word in all genres of English, doesn't that mean it is already used when necessary or if really necessary?
But I guess people could be more straightforward and specific sometimes; not using the "of" word enough gives the speech a more superficial feeling...


What is the most common word in all genres of English, do you know?

<My bad. But really, I have heard it before >.< >

I've heard "Me Tarzan, you Jane" before, but I wouldn't teach it to students.

<What is the most common word in all genres of English, do you know?>

the

<<I've heard "Me Tarzan, you Jane" before, but I wouldn't teach it to students.>>
It was just a mistake, and then a remark, Tarzan.
Also, I'm not treating MollyB as an English student....oops..?


<<<What is the most common word in all genres of English, do you know?>
the>>

Makes sense. Thanks~