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Sarnga1157 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Usage

Hello, Please help me understand this usage of "of". I understand the meaning of this, but I don't quite understand how this can be used in other contexts.

"Of itself, the ranking meant little, particularly when it was no longer validated by retention of the World Cup."
  

Top answer

It is a variant of (or a mistake for) an idiomatic expression normally rendered "in and of itself" or "in itself", meaning "by its very nature".

— Enoon

  • It is a variant of (or a mistake for) an idiomatic expression normally rendered "in and of itself" or "in itself", meaning "by its very nature".
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6 Answers
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It is a variant of (or a mistake for) an idiomatic expression normally rendered "in and of itself" or "in itself", meaning "by its very nature".
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Thank you. Do you say it's right usage or that it's a mistake to you use it this way? Can "in iteself" be used in its place?
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It's hard to say. "Of itself" might be the only right form somewhere and has been since 700 AD. For my money, it's "in itself", or "in and of itself" if I'm feeling puckish.

I was hoping to get out of this thread without addressing the question you have now asked, but that's not your fault. I think that any form of this expression is wrong in this context: "Of itself, the ra
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Thank you very much, that was helpful. When you say "in and of itself", do you use it like that? Could you give me an example please? I've never seen that before.
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It's kind of like a "per se" that you can put at the beginning of a sentence if you want. It means something like "by its very nature" or "intrinsically".

Soccer, unlike boxing or rugby, is not a violent sport in and of itself, but people do get seriously injured sometimes.
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