Word Usage – Difference Between ‘Out Of’ and ‘Off’

meaningprepositionsword-usage

i know the difference when it comes to places like: "get out of the car" and "get off the bus"
but for example here:

he will have a cake out of the bakery

he will have a cake off the bakery

you can get drunk off it

you can get drunk out of it

this will change the irreparable damaged that has been done to the Gulf of Mexico and the people that live off it

this will change the irreparable damaged that has been done to the Gulf of Mexico and the people that live out of it

in these examples i cant tell whether to use "out of" or "off"

Best Answer

"Off" has several uses, and not all your examples use it the same way.

"Off" can mean to get down from, to dismount or disembark - for example, you might say you "got off a horse". This is the idiomatic way we speak about disembarking from large vehicles like planes, trains, buses. Likewise, getting on is the idiomatic way of saying you boarded:

  • I got off the plane in London.
  • I got on the bus at my usual stop.

With smaller vehicles and buildings we do say "in/out of":

  • I got in my car.
  • He went out of the house.

"Off" can also mean "received from" - for example, if you received a gift from your parents, you might say "I got this off my parents".


These are the most idiomatic ways of expressing your examples:

  • He will have a cake from the bakery.

Neither of your examples sound idiomatic, we would probably use "from". We don't usually use "off" when obtaining something from a store (eg a bakery), although in British English we might use it when referring to an individual, for example "I got this off a man at the market".

You can get drunk off it.

This is an idiomatic expression. You could also say "you can get drunk from it", showing the interchangeability of the two.

  • This will change the irreparable damage that has been done to the Gulf of Mexico and the people that live off it.

To "live off" something is an idiomatic way of saying that it is a resource you use for survival. You might "live off a wage", or "live off a vegetarian diet". There isn't really another idiomatic alternative to this. To "live out of" something idiomatically means to live in it, for example "he lived out of a caravan for 6 months".

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