Drop off

Drop off

“Drop off” is a phrasal verb that means, “to leave something at a specific location.”

Typically , we use “drop off” when we leave something somewhere and it will be collected, delivered, or processed later. For example, if I have to send a package to someone in another city, I can drop the package off at the post office or at a delivery service like DHL or UPS. When I drop the package off, I take it to the post office and I leave it there…and the post office processes it. They do something else with it. The post office is not the final destination. I dropped the package off means, I took it to the post office, I left it there, and the post office is going to do something with it.

I haven’t had clothes dry cleaned in…I can’t tell you how long. But before COVID, I wore dress slacks, dress shirts, suits, and sport coats to work. And I would drop those clothes off at the dry cleaners. I would take them to the cleaners. I would leave them there. The cleaners would do something with the clothes—they would clean them and return them to me.

“I have to drop off my clothes at the cleaners” means, “I have to take my clothes to the cleaners” and it makes sense because there’s some additional processing later. Leaving my clothes there is not the final step in the process.

Imagine you’re taking a trip. You fly to another city. You rent a car. You enjoy your vacation. Now you’re on your way home. When you get to the airport, you drop the car off at the rental car return center. You deliver the car, you take it there, you leave it there, you walk away, and the car goes through the return process—cleaning, whatever, before it’s returned back to the lot. You dropped the car off.

There are lots of other times to use “drop off.” You might need to drop your computer off with your company’s IT department for repairs. If a family member is sick, you might drop some homemade meals off at their house. After a natural disaster, organizations might collect canned food and clothing for people who can’t go back to their homes. If that’s the case, they might specify drop-off centers, where you can drop off donations.

So that’s how you use it with objects. You can use “drop off” with people, too. When you use “drop off” with people, it means you take someone somewhere. And then you leave.

“Can you drop me off at the airport?” That means, “Can you drive me to the airport?” And if you drop someone off at the airport, you pull up at the curb, the other person gets out of the car, goes into the airport—and you leave.

How did you get to school as a kid? I took a yellow school bus. But if I missed the bus, my mom dropped me off at school. She took me to school in the car, I got out, and she left. She dropped me off.

Kids are always being dropped off somewhere. As a kid, I went to the YMCA to exercise, after school or on weekends. But that was before I had a driver’s license. So when I went to exercise, my mom would drop me off. She’d leave me there—and then go do other things. The opposite of “drop someone off” is to pick someone up. So my mom would drop me off at the YMCA. Then she would pick me up a couple hours later. She was good that way.

Sometimes if you take an Uber or other rideshare service, the map tells the driver to circle the block so you can get to the exact address. But often, it’s easier to just get out of the car a little earlier, instead of waiting to drive all the way around a block. If that ever happens to you, you can say to the driver, “You can drop me off at the corner.” That means, “You can stop and let me get out here at the corner instead of circling the entire block. Just drop me off at the corner.”

See you next time!

And that’s all for today. “Drop off” is a good one; I’m surprised we haven’t done it yet. But now you know how to use it—this is really useful.

Speaking of really useful, JR has uploaded all of today’s lesson resources—the transcripts, the translations, the quizzes and exercises, all that—to PlainEnglish.com/651. So make sure to check that out. And next week we’ll be back with a new Plain English. See you then.