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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

What does "fish off" stand for?

0"They are fishing off the side of a pier." -- from a TOEIC preparation book.02br
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00What does this sentence mean? I understand " by = next to " so " fish by the side of pier" makes sence to me. I don't understand why "off" is used here?Does "off" mean " away from" ?? Off = away from ??02br
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00So " fish off the side of a pier" = "fish away from the side of a pier" ? Does the original sentence mean "They are standing (far) away from the side of a pier to fish?" 02br
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00Or it might have some other meaning? 0-
  

Top answer

0 It means they are standing on one side of the pier and fishing. 0-

— Optilang

  • 0 It means they are standing on one side of the pier and fishing.
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9 Answers
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0 It means they are standing on one side of the pier and fishing. 0-
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0They are standing on the pier. They are fishing 'off' the side of it into the sea.0-
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0 They are 01b00based on02b00 the pier and that's where they are fishing 01b00from/off.02b0-
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0Since we can say "fish from/IN a boat", can we say 'fish ON the pier"?02br
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00Thanks in advance.0-
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0I see nothing wrong with that. I was fishing on the pier when someone asked me to show them my licence. 0-
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0Thanks, Optilang.0-
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0Why use "off" the side? Why not "on" the side, " at " the side, "by" the side, "to" the side , etc? Why "off "??02br
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00What does " off " mean here?? 0-
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0It's just a collacation. The lines goes off the pier into the water. Not all prepositions make sense!0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10Why use "off" the side? Why not "on" the side, " at " the side, "by" the side, "to" the side , etc? Why "off "??12br
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10What does " off " mean here??12br
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10off means from. A vertical drop is implied. The fishing line drops down into the water.0
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