meaning of "know of"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi, please have a look at this sentence:

Not wanting anyone to know of her return, Meggie rode out to Drogheda on the mail truck with old Bluey Williams.

=> Can we omit “of” in the sentence above? and what’s the difference between the two versions?
I personally think we shouldn’t omit “of”, but either using “of” or replacing “of” with “about” may be all right.

Thank you in advance.
Nessie.

2

I agree that replacing it with “know about” is okay.

3

Spot on, Nessie.

4

Thanks a lot, Barb and Pamela :slight_smile:
But could you please tell me why omitting “of” or “about” make the sentence wrong? I know it is, but I just can’t explain.

5

Hi Nessie,

‘Know’ with a direct object indicates having firsthand knowledge of. By adding prepositions such as ‘of’ and ‘about’ you are removing the ‘firsthand’ element. ‘Know of’ suggests having information of perhaps through a secondary source. ‘Know about’ again indicates having information of but not in any detail.

In your sentence:Not wanting anyone to know of her return … the meaning here is similar to ‘hearing/learning about’. Similarly ‘know about’ can be used here. But you can’t really ‘know her return’ because the word ‘return’ is too vague here to be a direct object of ‘know’ You would have to create a dependent sentence as: ‘know that she had returned/was returning’.

Alan

6

Thank you so much for your very clear explanation, Alan :):):slight_smile:
Nessie.