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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

.
I couldn't because alarm was my window .
I couldn't sleep night because a alarm was off outside my window night.

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

I work yesterday alarm didn't
I was late work yesterday because alarm didn't go

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

,
clock normally about 6.15, but get until about 6.30
alarm clock normally goes at about 6.15, but I don't get of bed until about 6.30

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?

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