An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'fall off' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them.
Have you ever heard of the English phrasal verb 'fall off' before? I'm sure that you will have done as it is used fairly commonly in everyday English and in this post, I will explain to you the different ways in which it is used, including idioms and expressions that it features in. In addition, I will give you lots of example sentences in context for each meaning to show you typical situations in which we use it in order to help your English sound more fluent and natural. So, without further ado, let's make a start....
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FALL OFF: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 2 |
Past tense forms | Fell off / Fallen off |
Separable? | No |
MEANINGS (Click to jump to each one)
THE BASICS
Before we delve into the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall off', let's first consider what the individual words 'fall' and 'off' mean on their own.
The verb 'to fall' is a common English verb whose main meaning is to drop from a higher place to a lower one, usually in an uncontrolled way. Furthermore, this meaning can apply to objects and people when they drop or collapse to the ground from an erect or standing position. Among its many other specific uses, one notable meaning of 'to fall' is to refer to something that decreases or becomes lower in some way. 'To fall' is an intransitive verb, meaning that it does not take a direct object, i.e. you cannot "fall something".
I will catch you if you fall.
Snow has been falling for over six hours now.
John fainted and fell on the ground.
The number of people going to the cinema has fallen in recent years.
Next, we have the prepositional particle 'off', which functions as the natural opposite of the particle 'on' and has a huge number of uses in English, which include the idea of removal of something from a surface, a machine not working, or movement away from a particular place. 'Off' is commonly used in phrasal verb constructions and its inclusion can often imply the ideas of separation (cut off), completion (pay off), departure (take off) and deactivation (turn off), among others.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall off'....
MEANING 1: To unintentionally drop towards the ground
CEFR Language Level | A2 - Elementary |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To fall, to fall out, to tumble off, to come off |
Separable? | No |
Unlike many common English phrasal verbs, 'fall off' is a relatively easy as there are only two meanings: a literal one and a figurative one. This first application that we will cover is the literal meaning and simply means 'to unintentionally drop towards the ground'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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For this application, we are not just concerned with the concept of falling, but also we want to specify the place that we fell from. As I mentioned in the Basics section, 'off' is the reverse of the particle 'on' and so logically, before someone falls off something, they first need to be on it. Grammatically speaking, we can therefore use 'fall off' with any nouns that we can say that we are 'on', however of course in reality some of these would sound a bit strange.
If we talk about a person falling off something, typically we are referring to situations in which the unlucky individual unintentionally loses their balance, causing them to fall off the surface that is supporting them. This can also include animals too; one of my cats is very playful and often falls off chairs and surfaces whilst playing with his toys.
The little boy fell off his bike and scraped his knee.
Be careful while riding this horse— he is very unpredictable and you may fall off if you don’t hold on tight!
Arthur the cat fell off the windowsill while trying to catch a bird.
Steve lost his balance and fell off his ladder while painting the house.
The monkey fell off the tree branch after losing its grip.
Of course, 'fall off' can be applied to plants and non-living, inanimate objects too. This is usually when they become knocked or detached from the surface that supports them and then fall towards the ground.
The book fell off the shelf when the door slammed shut.
One of the wheels fell off Helen's suitcase while she was walking.
Tim's hat fell off due to a particularly strong gust of wind.
A button has fallen off my coat, and now I need to sew it back on.
The picture frame fell off the wall during the earthquake.
October is here and the leaves have started to fall off the trees.
One other grammar point to note here is that it is possible to use the additional preposition 'of' to specify the surface from which someone or something falls, giving us the construction 'to fall off of something'. This is optional, however, and many native speakers do not use the 'of' version (including me), potentially because it is a bit of mouthful to pronounce 'off of'. Moreover, the 'off of' version does sound a little more American to my ears.
The child fell off of the swing while playing at the park.
My dog is always falling off of the couch while sleeping.
Carly's phone fell off of the table when she accidentally bumped it.
MEANING 2: To decrease
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To decrease, to reduce, to lower, to wane, to drop, to plummet, to dwindle, to diminish, to lessen, to drop off, to go down |
Separable? | No |
The second and final meaning of 'fall off' that we will cover in this post is more of a figurative meaning, however it it still a fairly intuitive one and means to decrease.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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In the previous application, our focus was on things falling to the ground due to the effects of gravity, however this time we are interested in a different type of falling that has nothing to do with gravitational force. We are now focussing on abstract nouns for things that can be measured by numerical or qualitative values. In other words, things that we cannot touch but we can observe through statistics and graphs.
We use 'fall off' here to refer to when something that we can measure gets lower in value, number, quality or intensity.
In today's world, we are very focussed on measuring and analysing all types of performance through numbers. Therefore, you can find this usage being applied in many different areas of life, from business and sales to natural phenomena. For example, when the temperature drops for a period of time or during the winter, we can say that 'the temperatures fall off'. Likewise, if you are a website owner, you may notice that the number of visitors to your site gets lower or falls off at certain times of the day.
My company's sales usually fall off after the holiday season.
Attendance at the gym falls off in the winter months.
Phrasal Verb Inc's profits fell off sharply last quarter.
The crime rate in London has fallen off since the new policies were introduced.
The birth rate in many countries is falling off due to economic concerns.
The number of job applications fell off after the company reduced salaries.
Food production has fallen off due to poor weather conditions.
Donations to the charity fell off during the economic downturn.
The amount of traffic to my website fell off after the initial launch.
This application does not just cover things that can be measured by numbers but also when there is a perceived reduction in the quality or level of something.
Sam's enthusiasm for the project fell off when he realised how much work was involved.
Robert's energy levels always fall off when he works long hours without a break
The quality of the company's products has fallen off since they switched to cheaper materials.
The service in this restaurant fell off after it was taken over by the new owners.
CAN WE USE FALL-OFF AS A NOUN?
Yes, we can also use 'fall-off' as a noun for this specific application to describe when there is a reduction or decline in the level, rate, or quantity of something. Additionally, the alternative noun 'falling-off' also exists. Whilst both of these can be used interchangeably, 'falling-off' tends to be used more when the fall or decrease is more gradual and less sudden, while 'fall-off' tends to be used for more sudden or abrupt decreases.
There has been a significant fall-off in sales since the holiday season ended.
A sudden fall-off in investor confidence caused stock prices to plummet.
Scientists have noticed a falling-off in air quality due to increased pollution.
The business suffered a falling-off in profits after the pandemic.
SOME EXTRA INFORMATION FOR YOU....
When 'fall off' is used to describe a decrease in this way, it is possible (and common) to use adverbs to modify the decrease such as slightly, sharply, massively or unexpectedly.
The company's stock price fell off slightly after the earnings report was released.
Our sales fell off sharply after we raised our prices.
After the promotional period ended, customer engagement fell off drastically.
The number of active users on the platform fell off noticeably last month.
Due to the bad weather, attendance at the event fell off considerably.
Also, if you want to state that something has experienced a large, sudden or dramatic increase, it is possible to use the idiom 'to fall off a cliff'.
After the scandal, the company’s stock price fell off a cliff and it lost 50% of its value overnight.
Consumer spending has fallen off a cliff since the start of the economic recession.
Sales of the once-popular smartphone fell off a cliff after a competitor released a better model.
The public's interest in the TV show fell off a cliff after the main character was killed off.
A LITTLE BIT MORE FOR YOU!
Before I finish the post, there are some other uses and idioms linked to 'fall off' that I want to tell you about.
To fall off the wagon
One other idiom that features the phrasal verb 'fall off' is 'to fall off the wagon'. We use this expression specifically for people who start drinking alcohol again after having abstained from it (not drunk it) for a period of time. As you may infer from the idea of 'falling', this tends to be used when the person fails in their efforts to not drink, which is not what they had planned or wanted.
Every time that Jane attempts to stop drinking, she ends up falling off the wagon.
To lose weight
When someone does stay on the wagon and manages to stop drinking alcohol for a period of time, one of the things that may happen to them is that they will lose weight. If someone loses a lot of weight, especially in a short space of time, we can say that the weight falls off them.
I tried this new diet and the weight just fell off me in weeks.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'fall off'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'fall off'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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