About the use "of"

Question

Good day everyone!I would like to know about the use of "of" in this sentence;"Bench is a long seat, usually of wood, with or without a back, usually for several persons."Is it right to say "usually of wood" or it should be "usually made up of wood"?I am quite confused in this... Please help me.Thanks in advance...

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

Both these are OK and they mean pretty much the same thing:

"A bench is a long seat, usually of wood, with or without a back, usually for several persons."

"A bench is a long seat, usually made of wood, with or without a back, usually for several persons."

"made up of wood" is not actually incorrect, but it's less usual and has a stronger sense of "assembled from wood". In this sentence I'd wouldn't recommend it. Even though a bench is indeed "assembled" there's no particular need to emphasise this. Also, because it's a relatively unusual form of words there's a risk it might just be taken as a mistake for "made of wood".

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you very much Mr. Wordy. It helps me a lot.

But may I know why it has different structure? What is the use of "of" in those two words?

Much help is appreciated...

Mr Wordy · Answer

AnonymousBut may I know why it has different structure? What is the use of "of" in those two words?

In all cases here, the word "of" has sense 3 at :

"used as a function word to indicate the component material, parts, or elements or the contents"

In a literal interpretation, "make" has sense 3a at :

"to bring into being by forming, shaping, or altering material"

However, in the expression "made of", this literal sense is usually not very prominent. In the back of our minds we know that someone must have constructed the bench (say) but "made of" doesn't emphasise that. Therefore I wouldn't particularly recommend that you keep this literal explanation at the forefront of your mind. It's probably best just to think of "made of" as unit -- a way of saying what material an object is composed of -- and leave it at that.

Edit: I forgot to mention that in most contexts "made of" is much more common than "of". In everyday speech, you'd almost never say something like "this ring is of gold" (though it would not be grammatically incorrect to do so). You'd almost always say "this ring is made of gold". In your original sentence, "of" works fine because of the sentence structure (and also partly because in a dictionary-style definition one expects this sort of more abbreviated language).

Anonymous · Answer

Mr. Wordy, THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!

Now I fully understand. Thanks for your help...

*** bless you more!!!

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