Oatmeal (mingau de aveia) can be the most comforting and fulfilling breakfast, lunch, or dinner. A student was having (eating) a bowl of oatmeal during the class (online classes allow for that), and I asked her to share her oatmeal recipe with me. Then, she started listing the ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of the oats (aveia)
She thought that she had to use “of the”, because of phrases like the end of the day, the cost of the meal, a member of the team, etc.
So I decided to prepare this lesson.
In this context, when we are listing the ingredients of the recipe, OF is being used to show what type of substance or thing we are referring to when talking about the amount:
- two kilos of sugar
- millions of dollars
- a bar of chocolate
There are many different oatmeal recipes, and the purpose of this lesson is not the recipe itself but to learn how to say it. Here is an easy one only to show you how the ingredients are listed. Notice the 1/2 cup of rolled oats.
Okay, now let’s look at some situations in which we use of the:
the end of the day
used to show what a part belongs to or comes from
the back of the house
the last scene of the movie
the cost of the meal
used when talking about a feature or quality that something has
the beauty of the scenery
the length of the swimming-pool
a member of the baseball team
used to show what group one or more things or people belong to
some of the students
‘Mona Lisa’ is one of the best-known paintings.
Two of the guests are vegetarian.
Now, here is a very common situation in which we use only of: a cup of coffee
used to say what something contains
several packets of cigarettes
truckloads of refugees
Okay! Let’s see what other ingredients my student adds to her oatmeal recipe, starting from the beginning:
- 2 tablespoons of oats
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 tablespoon of whey protein
- 1 banana
- a dash (pitada) of cinnamon
Way to go Mariane! Bon apettit!