Grammar

2.295 WARNING

Personal pronouns are not usually put after 'of'. For example, you cannot say 'Joyce was the daughter of him' or 'the pages of it'. Possessive determiners are used instead to indicate possession. These are explained in paragraphs 1.192 to 1.107.

2.296

Prepositional phrases beginning with 'of' can be used to indicate what something consists of.

...gifts of olive oil.
...strong feelings of jealousy.

They can also be used to indicate what the subject matter of something is.

...a picture of a house.
...Gretchen's account of her interview with Nichols.
...the idea of death.

2.297

Prepositional phrases beginning with 'of' can be used to say that something belongs to or is associated with someone or something.

COBUILD is a trademark of William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.
No.28 was the town house of Sir Winston Churchill.
Joyce was the daughter of the village cobbler.
The acting ability of the pupils is admirable.
...the beauty of the Welsh landscape.
Four boys sat on the floor of the living room.
Ellen aimlessly turned the pages of her magazine.

Note that apostrophe s ('s) structures are much more frequently used to say that something belongs to someone or something. Apostrophe s ('s) is explained in paragraphs 2.180 to 2.192.

2.298

Prepositional phrases beginning with 'of' can be used to say that someone or something has a particular quality.

...a woman of energy and ambition.
...problems of varying complexity.
...a flower of monstrous proportions.
A household of this size inevitably has problems.

They can also be used in front of a number to indicate someone's age.

...a woman of twenty-two.
...a child of six.

Other ways of indicating age are explained in paragraphs 2.275 to 2.280.

2.299

Prepositional phrases beginning with 'of' can be used with nouns which refer to an action to indicate who or what is performing the action.

...the arrival of the police.
...the growth of modern industry.

They can also be used to show who or what someone does something to. For example, if you are talking about people who support a scheme, you can call them 'the supporters of the scheme'.

...supporters of the hunger strike.
...critics of the Trade Union Movement.
...the creator of the universe.
...a student of English.
...the cause of the tragedy.

'Of' structures are also used to indicate the thing affected by an action.

...the destruction of their city.
...the appointment of Robert Courtney Smith as the official receiver.

2.300

Prepositional phrases beginning with 'of' and containing measurement are used to indicate how great an area, speed, distance, or temperature is.

There were fires burning over a total area of about 600 square miles.
It can barely maintain a speed of 25 kilometres an hour.
...an average annual temperature of 20°.

Ways of measuring things are explained in paragraphs 2.267 to 2.274.