The usage of "of"

Question

a) used to state specifically which thing of the general type mentioned you are referring to:

the city of New York
the art of painting
the problem of unemployment

The city= New York

The art = painting

The problem = unemployment

Then, why is "the word of understand" and "the expression of I got it" wrong?

The word = understand (?)

The expression = I got it (?)

Thank you so much as usual and I hope to hear from you.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

I believe your question comes from a misunderstanding of how dictionaries work.

For the word of, or any other word, the dictionary gives you a list of the various ways that word might be used. The dictionary is saying that sometimes the word is used this way; sometimes the word is used that way. Those are the different definitions of the same word. But these lists say nothing about how to follow the historical traditions of writers when using any particular definition of the word.

So you can't take any meaning in the list and use the word with that meaning every time you would like to express that meaning in your writing. You need to do a lot of reading in an observant way, seeing how writers use the word in some contexts with that meaning and how they don't use the word in other contexts, even when they are expressing the same or a similar meaning.

What you are bumping up against is the fact that some words are followed by of (in that meaning) and some are not.

word and expression are two words that don't use of that way. In fact, the words that do not use of that way are far more numerous than those that do. Yet, because there are some words that are followed by of with that meaning, that usage must be listed in the dictionary; the dictionary would be incomplete if it neglected to mention this use of of.

CJ

The usage of "of"

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