How is Know Of used?

Question

My English text explains how Know Of is used, and it shows an example 'Do you know of his departure?'.

How about 'Do you know his departure?' or 'Do you know about his departure?'?

Is it different, or not?

Answer 1

Do you know of his departure just sounds more formal and polite I suppose. Alot of times 'do you know of' is used when you are referring to something like a band or a movie.

ex: 'Do you know of Death Cab For Cutie?'

It's kind of like saying 'Do you know who they are, or do you know what they do'.

Most average English speakers would say, 'Do you know anything about his leaving?'

That book doesn't teach slang and unformal talk. Don't get caught up in that one phrase. It's not used that often and there are other ways to phrase it. Hope that helped.

Answer 2

Assuming that when you said "Do you know his departure", you meant "Do you know OF his departure", they mean the same thing.

But using "about" In that context sounds a lot more natural, and you will see it more often, so I would go with the second one.

We usually use "Know of" When enquiring about these kinds of things:

"Do you know of a way to get to school without going through Lincoln Road?"

"Do you know of a person that makes diamond jewellery?"

I can't really come up with a rule of when to use which, but you should get used to it as you become more familiar with English.

Answer 3

Fred is absolutely right.

You can use "know" as a transitive verb (that is, without a preposition) only when you talk about being familiar with someone or something, or being aware of a fact:

Do you know he departed yesterday evening?

Do you know my friend Abdul?

Do you know Beethoven's fifth symphony?

Do you know San Francisco (that is, are you familiar with the city?)

Answer 4

'Do you know his departure?'  is not correct or meaningful.

Of and about are the same, but of sounds a little better here.

Of implies knowing that he left, whereas about implies more knowledge of more details.