[off the bus] or [out of the bus]

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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ansonman
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[off the bus] or [out of the bus]

Post by ansonman »

"Get on a bus" and "get off a bus" are opposites.

For example,
(1) [I got on the bus.] is the opposite of [I got off the bus.].

(2) Is "I'm off the bus." or "I'm out of the bus" the opposite of "I'm on the bus."?

Most of my non-native English speaking friends think "out of the bus" is correct because they use the example below to support their answer.

(3) Jack said, "Where are you going?" I said, "I need to talk to Bill." He replied, "He's out of the office. You can find him in the conference room."

However, my other friends think "I'm off the bus." is the opposite because of (1).

I am not sure who is correct. Please give me your answer. Thank you.
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Alan
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Re: [off the bus] or [out of the bus]

Post by Alan »

Although 'out of the bus' is contextually comprehensible, technically it is the opposite of 'in' rather than of 'on', whose opposite, as you correctly observe, is 'off'.

Note, incidentally, a slight difference between BrE usage 'get/be OFF the bus' (with 'off' functioning fully as a preposition) and AmE 'get/be OFF of the bus' (with adverbial 'off' supported by 'of' as the preposition).
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