go off: meaning and explanation
The phrasal verb ‘to go off’ is used to talk about alarms – alarm clocks, car alarms, fire alarms, and so on.
If an alarm ‘goes off’ then it starts, makes a sound or rings.
For example, I used to work with someone who slept so deeply that when his alarm went off in the mornings he would turn it off without actually waking up. This meant that he would oversleep and would often turn up late for work. Now he hides his alarm so that when it goes off he has to look for it and find it before he can turn it off. This gives him a chance to wake up properly.
Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?
Listening exercises
Dictation #1
Accent: Ireland
About the sentence
…a car alarm was going off…
The continuous is used here to communicate the fact that the action happened over a period of time, instead of happening once or suddenly, e.g. a car alarm went off).
Dictation #2
Accent: North America
About the sentence
…I was late for work...
Notice the weak/unstressed pronunciation of ‘was’ and ‘for’ in this sentence as /wəz/ and /fə/.
Dictation #3
Accent: England, RP
About the sentence
…generally…
Listen to the word ‘generally’ in this sentence. How many syllables can you hear? Although you might expect to hear 4 syllables, it is pronounced here with just 3: /’ʤenrəli:/.
Other examples of words which often lose a syllable are:
chocolate (2 syllables instead of 3): /’ʧɒklət/
comfortable (3 syllables instead of 4): /’kʌmftəbəl/
vegetable (3 syllables instead of 4): /’veʤtəbəl/
Extra practice
Here are some questions/links to help you learn the new vocabulary:
- How do you usually feel when your alarm goes off in the morning? Do you have any strategies for making it easier to get up when the alarm goes off?
- Have you ever been in a public place when an alarm went off, like a fire alarm or a security alarm? How did the people around you react, and what did you do?
- Have you ever caused a fire alarm or security alarm to go off accidentally? What happened?
In the morning my alarm goes off at 6.10 am and I get up straight away most of the time.
Thanks Maritza! Well done for not snoozing – I wish I were as disciplined as you 🙁
My alarm goes off at 6:15 a.m. and when it goes off, I wake up straight away. I’ve never been in a building when the fire alarm went off. Actually, I don’t even know if this kind of thing works very well around here.
Perfect English Aline, well done!
I have no idea how it works, but I don’ t need any alarm. I use my cellphone for it but I usually wake yo before it gets off.
Wow, lucky you! Have you always had this ability?
Remember to use the phrasal verb 🙂 so your last section should be: “I always wake up before it goes off”.
My alarm always go off at 6:40 am. I don’t get up immediately, I just stay lay down on my bed, check out the new until 7:00 a.m.
I’ve never been in an building when the fire alarm go off
Hi Victor! Thanks for your examples. I also look at the news first thing in the morning – I don’t know if it’s the best way to start the day…what do you think?
Note these corrections:
“My alarm always goes off at 6:40am…”
“…I just stay lying down in bed, checking out the news…”
“I’ve never been in a building when the fire alarm has gone off“
I set my alarm at 06:15 am but when it goes off I slide to snooze, that cause a big trouble because sometimes I arrive late for work.