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-John wanted to remind us __ the venue and time for the exam.

Usually we have to use of. But I know in conversational English many words are omitted. Do you think in informal English we could omit of above?

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Type: Question • Score: 9 • Views: 1,769 • Replies: 40

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@WBYeats,

WB I think so, yes

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I would not omit it, even in casual conversation.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

Most of us would, though, T. Perfectly collo here

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Excellent answers. Thank you.

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@WBYeats,

Note the difference, Yeux, like me is English, Dale is American. I can concur with Yeux that it would never be used over here.

A good example is letter writing. Americans say "Write me." We would always say "Write to me."

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I would ask that people not judge usage among Americans by that idiot, Dale. I don't know of any intelligent, well-educated American who would omit "of" in that locution. That is not colloquial usage in North America, and "collo" is just another one of Hileman's phony-baloney, made-up abbreviations.

At the same time, we find some of your usages odd. I've read writers who are English writing things such as "She gave it him." Any American would write: "She gave it to him."

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@izzythepush,

But we say "call me", "phone me".

So it's changing.

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@McTag,

That's interesting . . . what would you have said in the past?

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

I've read writers who are English writing things such as "She gave it him."

Apologies for assuming Dale knows what he's talking about. Your example sounds regional, from oop North. My Yorkshire relatives would say "She gave it him," we wouldn't say that down South. Like you we'd say "She gave it to him."

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@izzythepush,

OK, cool . . . now what's McT talking about?

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@Setanta,

I don't know. Sorry, but I really don't. I can't imagine a time when anyone would say, "Call to me."

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Excellent answers. Thank you.

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@WBYeats,

WBYeats wrote:

-John wanted to remind us __ the venue and time for the exam.

Usually we have to use of. But I know in conversational English many words are omitted. Do you think in informal English we could omit of above?

I wouldn't, and I've never heard it among American English natives. I'll keep an eye/ear out for it in British English now, though.

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@FBM,

I've never heard it used. Could be Australian/Caribbean/African usage.

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That reminds me of a native of Uganda whom i met in a coffee shop while i was working at a midwestern university. He was incensed because he had to take an examination in English, which was, as far as he was concerned, his native language.

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@Setanta,

I can see his point, not only do a lot of Africans speak English, a lot of them only speak English.

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Another important factor, which i learned from the Francophone Africans from whom i learned conversational French, is that in many countries of Africa, there a several tribes, and the common European language is often the only way they can communicate with one another.

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

I've never heard it used. Could be Australian/Caribbean/African usage.

It's definitely not Australian usage. We would leave the 'of' in.

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I know a web forum for American expats living in the UK and their spouses or partners (often UK people) and you often see stories of the British side of a partnership being taken to America to meet the other's family and being congratulated on how well they speak English.

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