Get Off, My Lawn!

Where do you get off?!  Hey, you meddling kids, get off my lawn!

 I am telling you, to get off!  

Have I got your attention?  I hope so.  Or,  I have lost you.  Please don’t go.  

Today,  I am going to delve into the phrasal verb, “ GET OFF”.  I know what you are thinking, what is a phrasal verb?  

Most native English speakers do not know what a phrasal verb is, but we know how to use them.  Why?  Because,  we use them every day.  Also, I cannot think of a time when the term phrasal verb ever came up in my many years of being a student.  Never came up in elementary, high school or college.  But,  when I was asked about them and I looked up what they were, I was like “oh, I knew that!”

A phrasal verb, according to Dictionary.com, is an idiomatic phrase consisting of a verb and another element, usually an adverb or a preposition.  These words combined create a new phrase or unit with a new meaning.

Isn’t that a lot to remember!  

Just remember this, if you must remember the definition: A phrasal verb is a phrase made from combining a verb and a different part of speech.  According to a quick internet search, there are 390 phrasal verbs in the English language.  That my friend is quite a few!  Imagine all of the videos and blog posts one can create from all of those!

Today, I am going to only focus on one phrasal verb and that is “GET OFF”.  

Get off seems so simple, for native English speakers.  In fact, I never thought of it until my friend Paloma from Brazil, posted something about it on her Instagram account.  I saw her quick quiz for her students and I was like, “ Hey, I never thought about that!”

Then I began to focus on it and well it has lots of meanings!

Let’s take a quick look, shall we?

First of all,  get off is used when asking someone to stop using a piece of equipment.  In fact,  it is mainly used for electronics.  Here are some examples:

“:Get off the phone,” yelled Mom.  Or, I had to get off the computer when the boss came in.

And finally, The teacher told the students to get off their iPads.

All of those examples mean, stop using some sort of technology!

Get off is also used to tell someone to move off of something.  For example:

I just made the bed, get off!

Get off my lawn!

Hey, get off the table!

Next, get off can be used when talking about someone escaping punishment, or just plain escaping!  Check out these examples:

He is being charged, but he will probably get off.

Don’t let the dog get off the leash.

The policeman let him get off with a warning, he received no ticket.

Another way “get off “ is used,  is when someone is acting rude or presumptuous.  The following sentences also need an outraged tone when being delivered.

 Where do you get off yelling at your parents!

How does he get off eating all of the treats himself?

Here is one of the most common definitions of get off.  Get off means, to finish a day’s work, or to finish working.  

When you want to find out the time someone is done working you ask:  “What time do you get off work?” 

Answer.  I get off at 3:00 PM. 

I find this use of the phrasal verb get off, is the easiest to use and understand.  It is very common.  So common, we rarely think about it, we just use it.  

Get off is also used when someone needs to disembark from public transportation.

We get off a plane, train, subway or bus.  We never get off  a taxi or car, unless we are sitting on it.  ( see the second definition/uses  above).

This last use of Get off is tricky.  Get off is also used to mean get excited; to find pleasure in, or to be aroused. Remember, I am family-friendly so this will be clean.  (There are plenty of racy songs and uses with get off).  These examples have to do with finding pleasure in.

She gets off on helping others.

We get off on going to the beach.

He gets off on watching old movies.

All of these mean the subject finds pleasure in the activity mentioned in the prepositional phrase.

And finally, there is another saying or phrasal verb with get off but it also includes the word back.  The saying is, Get off my back!”  Now, no one is really on your back, it is used as a common way to say, “Leave me alone!” “Stop bothering me”  “Let me be!” Get off my back!

Whew, there are a lot of meanings for, GET OFF.  I know this is a lot to remember or take in.  Fear not.  I may have even left a few out.  I chose these because they are the most common and confusing.  Plus, I use one of them at least every day.  You probably do too.  

So, let me get off my computer and wrap this up.  If you want to learn more or need some visuals, check out the video about this topic on my YouTube Channel, English Makes No Sense, or click the link below.  I also have a podcast of the same name, English Makes No Sense, available  on Spotify, Apple, Anchor and GooglePodcasts.  It too will have an episode with just this topic.  

You may be thinking or wondering, Where does she get off?  I don’t know!  I just have a lot of different ways to communicate this all to you.    I hope you find at least one way helpful.

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