Away: How and When to Use in English
Quick and simple lesson to help you understand grammar better.
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Away
Principal meanings of away:
• distance
• distance
Go away! Leave this place!
far away At a very great distance
• disappearance
The snow melted away. The snow became water and disappeared.
Exercise 1
Kevin: My Dad says that Grandma didn't really die, she just went on vacation.
Taxi Driver : Why are you talking to me? Get my car please.
Taxi Driver : Why are you talking to me? Get my car please.
Kevin: My Dad says that Grandma didn't really die, she just went away 1 on vacation.
Taxi Driver : Why are you talking to me? Get out of 2 my car please.
Taxi Driver : Why are you talking to me? Get out of 2 my car please.
1 away: 'Go away' is a frequent use of 'away', which means 'leave'. Here, Kevin is saying that his Grandma has 'left on vacation'. This is the best choice here.
1 out: While someone can 'go out', it is grammatically incorrect to say 'go out on vacation'.
1 down: While someone can 'go down', it is grammatically incorrect to say 'go down on vacation'.
2 out of: 'Get out of' is synonymous with 'leave'. The taxi driver is asking Kevin 'to leave' his cab. This is the best choice here.
2 away of: 'Get away of' is grammatically incorrect. We could say, however: 'Get away from my car'.
2 down of: 'Get down of' is grammatically incorrect. We could say, however: 'Get down from my car', which would indicate that someone was 'on top of' the car.
Exercise 2
Bob: Hello, Luna. You know, I never asked where you are .
Luna: I come from a land far, far . It's called Sacramento.
Luna: I come from a land far, far . It's called Sacramento.
Bob: Hello, Luna. You know, I never asked where you are from 1.
Luna: I come from a land far, far away 2. It's called Sacramento.
Luna: I come from a land far, far away 2. It's called Sacramento.
1 from: We use 'from' to ask the origin of a person. This is the best choice here.
1 away: 'Where you are away' is an invalid grammatical construction.
1 of: 'Where you are of' is grammatically incorrect. We could say, however: 'Are you of Italian origin?'
2 away: 'Far away' is a common expression in English which indicates 'a very long distance'. This is the best choice here.
2 from: 'Far from' cannot be used in this type of construction. We could say, however: 'I come from a land far, far from here'.
2 of: 'Far of' does not make sense. It is grammatically incorrect.
Exercise 3
Journalist: Ok, next question. Mr. Delavigne, when you were a child, did you ever run from home?
Bruno: I've had enough of these questions! I'd like you to my office, now.
Journalist: So you're telling me you had a troubled past?
Bruno: out!
Bruno: I've had enough of these questions! I'd like you to my office, now.
Journalist: So you're telling me you had a troubled past?
Bruno: out!
Journalist: Ok, next question. Mr. Delavigne, when you were a child, did you ever run away 1 from home?
Bruno: I've had enough of these questions! I'd like you to leave 2 my office, now.
Journalist: So you're telling me you had a troubled past?
Bruno: Get 3 out!
Bruno: I've had enough of these questions! I'd like you to leave 2 my office, now.
Journalist: So you're telling me you had a troubled past?
Bruno: Get 3 out!
1 away: 'To run away' is an expression which means 'to abandon one's family or home', and usually refers to the flight of adolescents and teenagers from their parents. This is the best choice here.
1 on: 'To run on' does not make sense by itself. We could say, however: 'To run on the beach'.
1 up: 'To run up' does not make sense by itself. We could say, however: 'He ran up the stairs'.
2 leave: 'Leave' is the best choice here. Bruno is asking the reporter to 'leave' the room.
2 go away: We cannot use 'go away' here because it cannot be followed by 'my office'. We must use a simple verb in this case.
2 get out: We cannot use 'get out' here because it cannot be used with 'my office'. We must use a simple verb in this case. We could say, however: 'Get out of my office'.
3 Get: 'Get out' is synonymous with 'go away' or 'leave'. It is the best choice here.
3 Away: 'Away out' is grammatically incorrect and it does not make sense. We could say, however: 'Go away'.
3 Leave: 'Leave out' is grammatically incorrect and it does not make sense. We could say, however: 'I'd like you to leave'.
Exercise 4
Bruno: Don't walk when I'm talking to you!
Horatio: You are boring me, man who cannot smell.
Bruno: I'm not going to take this attitude you any more. You're fired. Now go .
Horatio: You are boring me, man who cannot smell.
Bruno: I'm not going to take this attitude you any more. You're fired. Now go .
Bruno: Don't walk away 1 when I'm talking to you!
Horatio: You are boring me, man who cannot smell.
Bruno: I'm not going to take this attitude from 2 you any more. You're fired. Now go away 3.
Horatio: You are boring me, man who cannot smell.
Bruno: I'm not going to take this attitude from 2 you any more. You're fired. Now go away 3.
1 away: 'Away' is the best choice here. To 'walk away (from someone, something)' is to 'leave' or 'abandon' someone or something. Bruno is telling Horatio not to walk away, but rather to stay with him. It's impolite to walk away from someone when they're talking to you!
1 from: This is not the right answer. We can 'walk from London to Brighton', but we cannot simply 'walk from': it is grammatically incorrect.
1 of: This is not the right answer. In informal English, we can 'walk off', which means to 'walk away', but we cannot 'walk of': it is grammatically incorrect!
2 from: 'From' is the right answer. When Bruno says that he 'won't take this attitude from Horatio' any longer, he means that he will not 'stand for', 'put up with', or 'accept' behaviour like this from Horatio in the future. Here's another example of this construction: 'I won't take these lies from you any more: I'm leaving you!'.
2 away: To 'take something away' is to 'remove' it. This does not make grammatical sense in this sentence.
2 of: 'Take this attitude of you' is simple grammatically incorrect! We could say 'I won't take your attitude any more' or 'I won't take this attitude of yours any more'.
3 away: This is the right choice here. When we tell someone to 'go away', we are asking them to 'leave' or 'depart'. It's not a very nice thing to say to someone, but it is correct English!
3 from: This is grammatically incorrect. Cars can 'go from 0 to 60 in 5.4 seconds', but that isn't the context of this sentence.
3 of: 'Go of' is quite simply grammatically incorrect: this is not the right choice!
Exercise 5
Hello, you have reached the voicemail of Susan Bliss. I’m from my desk at the moment, so please leave a message. Alternatively, you can call me my cell phone. Another to reach me is by telepathy, but only my best friends know how to do that.
Hello, you have reached the voicemail of Susan Bliss. I’m away 1 from my desk at the moment, so please leave a message. Alternatively, you can call me on 2 my cell phone. Another way 3 to reach me is by telepathy, but only my best friends know how to do that.
1 away: 'To be away from one's desk' is a phrase used when an office worker is not at their usual working location. Susie may be somewhere else in the building, or out of the office entirely. When answering on behalf of a colleague, you might say 'She's away from her desk at the moment' or 'She's not at her desk right now'.
1 out: We do not say that someone is 'out from their desk' in English. However, we can say that someone is 'out of the office'.
1 not: We do not say that someone is 'not from their desk' in English. However, we can say that someone is 'not at their desk'.
2 on: In US English, we call someone 'on their cell phone' (or 'on their mobile' in UK English). This means that we telephone them using their cell phone number. Similarly, we can call someone 'on their home phone' or 'on their work number'.
2 by: We do not use the preposition 'by' in this context. However, in a more general sense, we could say 'to communicate by telephone' (or 'via telephone').
2 away: We do not generally use the word 'away' in the context of telephones in English.
3 way: 'A way' to do something means 'a method' or 'a means' of doing something, or 'an approach' to a task. For example: 'Writing all these emails from scratch seems very inefficient. There must be a better way'.
3 away: Don't confuse the adverb 'away' with the noun 'way'. For example: 'I want to fly away from here, but the only way to do that is to grow wings'.
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