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If I want someone to remove someone from me because he is annoying or harassing me do I need the "of" ? I have heard both and while it may not be required to convey the intended meaning I think it should still be required from a grammaticaal standpoint.

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  • Both are fine. When under stress it's common to lose unnecessary prepositions.
    – Andrew
    May 16, 2017 at 14:57
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    What @Andrew said. Stressed or not, in practice most native speakers would tend to discard at least the second f (phonetically, v), so it would most likely be enunciated Get him offa me! (not an uncommon "eye-dialect" orthographic form, as attested by about 150 written instances of get him offa).
    – FumbleFingers
    May 16, 2017 at 15:23

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I think the phrases are practically interchangeable. "Get him off (of) me." It could be 1) rhetorical or 2) literal. "Get him off me" is just less precise and the word 'of' is understood to be there.

  1. The boss is always on 'my' case, riding 'me' too hard. This is a request for help deflecting the boss's attention.
  2. The man is physically sitting on/lying on 'me'. This is a literal request to have him removed.
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    We don't normally say The boss is on me for your context #1 (it's usually He's on my back or on my case), so I don't think OP's text would be at all likely to be used with that sense.
    – FumbleFingers
    May 16, 2017 at 15:28
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    @FumbleFingers So you wouldn't say "Get him off (of) me!" if he were on your back? Why does it matter whether they're literally or figuratively on your back? I've heard the phrase "Get him off my back!" often.
    – user3395
    May 16, 2017 at 16:07
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    @userr2684291: The point I'm making is that Get him off [of] me! wouldn't be likely in the context of the boss being figuratively "on your back/case". Sure - you'll hear Get him off my back! often enough, but Get him off me! doesn't really work for the figurative context. Thinking about it, one reason you wouldn't often hear The boss is on me is probably because it could easily be misinterpreted as The boss is on to me (he knows about my wrong-doings).
    – FumbleFingers
    May 16, 2017 at 16:15
  • @FumbleFingers Right. That's how I interpreted it as well.
    – user3395
    May 16, 2017 at 16:58

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