What is the difference between “disapprove” and “disapprove of”?

Question

Does adding "of" makes any difference in the sentences?

For example:

He disapproved of people marrying more than once.

Can't I write in following way?

He disapproved the people...

Another question related to this: Is there any difference between these two?

I beg you.

I beg of you.

Answer 1

Disapprove is not usually used with an object (in contrast to approve which often is).

It's because you don't take action by saying you disapprove of X, but you are expressing how you feel about X.

In business settings and similar it's common to use approve with an object, e.g. I approved time for this project, but the opposite of approve in that context is not disapprove but do not approve - I did not approve time for this project.

So you cannot omit the of.

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I beg you [to do X, for X].

You are begging someone to do something.

I beg of you [to do X, for X].

You are begging someone to let you use a resource they have or control. You're not technically really directly "begging" the person you are talking to.

As a person's ability to directly help you can be considered a resource, and "doing something" can involve letting someone use a resource one has, the distinction between these doesn't matter much.

I beg of you has the connotation of sounding much more formal and polite, and somewhat archaic.

Answer 2

Your first example,

He disapproved of people marrying more than once.

uses the following definition of disapprove:

To have an unfavorable opinion; express disapproval (usually followed by of).

Your second example,

He disapproved the people...

uses the following definition of disapprove:

To withhold approval from; decline to sanction.

While it is possible to approve and disapprove individuals, in most contexts (and including your example), to approve of and disapprove of people is appropriate.

Source: Random House Dictionary

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Your question regarding beg has been answered here:

Differences between {beg / beg for / beg of / beg from}

Answer 3

I think the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary gives more information about
to approve/to disapprove:

BrE: to disapprove of somebody/something and to disapprove.

1. She wants to be an actress, but her parents disapprove.
2. He strongly disapproved of the changes that had been made.

AmE as in BrE but to disapprove of somebody/something has a variant:
to disapprove somebody/something

1. A solid majority disapproves the way the president is handling the controversy.

As to the verb construction BrE is conservative. Only AmE dares to get away from the genitive construction by dropping "of".

Answer 4

When you disapprove of someone or something, you simply have a negative opinion of it:

My mother disapproves of the woman I am seeing.

When you disapprove something, you reject something, usually having the official power to do so:

The principal disapproved the students' request for less homework.

Based on this second definition, it is less likely that you would disapprove people, rather than things. But you might:

The mayor disapproved the new nominee for dogcatcher.

Conversely, if you added of, the mayor would just be offering a personal opinion, not officially rejecting the nominee:

The mayor disapproved of the new nominee for dogcatcher.