Give of

[CW Tan]

Hi teachers,

1) I have always tried to give of my best.

2) It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

Could you please explain the meaning of "give of" in the above examples. Does it mean "contribute"?

I have consulted my dictionary but did not find the definition of "give of". But it does have the explanation on "give off".

Thank you very much in advance.

[Pete]

I found this phrase in some on-line dictionaries. I don't think I can improve on what they say. Try looking at:
> http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=give.of*1+0&dict=P
and
> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/give_of

[Marius Hancu]

> I have always tried to give of my best.

The sentence may be understandable and correct, but with of it's strange, rare for most:

55 on "tried to give my best"
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22tried+to+give+my+best%22&btnG=Search+Books

11 on "tried to give of my best"
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22tried+to+give+of+my+best%22&btnG=Search+Books

and most of those 16 are from non-native speakers.

Thus I'd vote against using it.

Use the version without of.

Where did you get if from?

The 2nd is correct though.

[CW Tan]

Hi Pete and Marius Hancu,

Many thanks for your kind reply and detailed explanations.

Marius Hancu asked me from where I got sentence 1).

I came across sentence 1) when I was reading a resignation letter from someone I think whose English is powerful. The last paragraph of his letter reads as follows:

Finally, I must say that in all these years of service to the XXX (company name), I have always tried to give of my best. Forgive me, if my best was sometimes not good enough.

Anyway, I will keep in mind of the kind advice given by Marius Hancu to use the version without "of".

Again, thank you very much.

[Bridget]

Absolutley nothing wrong with it in the right contexts, genres, etc.

— give of
: to make available : provide generously <freely gave of their time>

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/give_of

Here are a few examples:

NEWS register:

Here are some holiday money-management suggestions from the Consumer Credit Counseling Service: # Give of your time more than your money.


Title: To buy or not to buy THAT IS THE QUESTION - AND NEVER MORE SO THAN NOW
Author: Jack Cox, Denver Post Staff Writer
Source: Denver Post


.........

ACADEMIC register:

Innate within him was the ability to put committee members at their ease, so that they could give of their best, and he could abstract the maximum amount of information.

Matrices and engineering dynamics. Simpson, A and Collar, A R. Chichester: Ellis Horwood Ltd, 1987, pp. 11-195. 1646 s-units.

............

By October Arden was being interviewed. "Meeting her", reported the interviewer to his male (presumably) compatriots "shocked me into realizing how little we normally expect from women." Indeed. "Women, learn to give of yourselves a bit more (with adequate contraception)", suggested Emmanuel Petrakis...

Underground: the London alternative press. Fountain, Nigel. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul plc, 1988, pp. 1-94. 2234 s-units.

.......

MISC register:

Guitars rarely give of their best when new --; acoustic ones especially so --; and the reviewer is constantly faced with the slightly off-putting scenario of having to assess potential, while simultaneously breaking instruments in.

Guitarist. 3205.

.......

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

An alternative assembly book. Hoy, Mike and Hoy, Linda. Harlow: Longman Group UK Ltd, 1991

......

In order to give of your best, you need: 1. adequate training in up-to-date working practices; 2. wholehearted co-operation from your colleagues; 3. consistent support from your superiors.

How to get the best deal from your employer. Edwards, Martin. London: Kogan Page Ltd, 1991,

.........



Use it carefully, but don't be afraid of using it and always consult more than one or twi sources when you need advice on language use.

This is one source you might like to add to your list:

http://view.byu.edu/

That's the source of the above extracts.

More sources:

30,800 English pages for "give (http://www.google.es/url?q=http://www.answers.com/give&r=67&sa=X&oi=dict&ct=D&cd=1&ei=urX0SKXGN5jE0gWSsZH4Dg&sig2=nRWFt7jSGE_ZR03hJyqrSg&usg=AFQjCNFb8hva6VtTl9W4e6MyJVYlRypZbw) of your best (http://www.google.es/url?q=http://www.answers.com/best&r=67&sa=X&oi=dict&ct=D&cd=2&ei=urX0SKXGN5jE0gWSsZH4Dg&sig2=Kbjqh9nf9CBn2xTkgTTHeQ&usg=AFQjCNExm6aabYPCmldzJYpXhNHyC_j7ew)".
109,000 English pages for "give (http://www.google.es/url?q=http://www.answers.com/give&r=67&sa=X&oi=dict&ct=D&cd=1&ei=U7b0SJu1DYy00gXo4NT3Dg&sig2=p_FWwX2Fas_SpvPGiTSCDA&usg=AFQjCNHz91FBoxpEoHS9qKdLG8g0rB3iUA) of yourself (http://www.google.es/url?q=http://www.answers.com/yourself&r=67&sa=X&oi=dict&ct=D&cd=2&ei=U7b0SJu1DYy00gXo4NT3Dg&sig2=1iGLbiODeOdyiC85EoDI9Q&usg=AFQjCNG5aYMR1Ok9oOqvKk35nQAe1cPJjQ)".

Obviously you can't check all of them, but have a look at a few and decide how and when that, very native, expression is used.

[Bridget]

I think you might need to widen your search skills, Marius.

55 on "tried to give my best"
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22t...G=Search+Books (http://books.google.com/books?q=%22tried+to+give+my+best%22&btnG=Search+Books)

11 on "tried to give of my best"
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22t...G=Search+Books (http://books.google.com/books?q=%22tried+to+give+of+my+best%22&btnG=Search+Books)

and most of those 16 are from non-native speakers.

Look at this Google Books search:

1108 on "give of * best".
1225 on "give my best".

72 on "try to give of * best".
34 on "try to give my best".

Again one has to sift those to exclude examples such as "give my best jacket to charity". ;)

[MrPedantic]

"To give of his best" can be regarded as partitive: to give [a part] of [the set of] his best [characteristics / qualities / skills / etc.].

MrP

[Marius Hancu]

It's correct, of course, but rare, IMO, as I said in my original posting.

[Bridget]

It's correct, of course, but rare, IMO, as I said in my original posting.

I think you said a little more than that:

Thus I'd vote against using it.