Run-off, run off

Whoa! What a sentence!

The phrasal verb "run off" appears three times with the noun "run-off" once in the above sentence. It surely does not have the same meaning every time it is used in this sentence.

Let's go through the meanings together.

When Senator Sam ran off from parliament, he left it suddenly. We can also say that someone run off with a person.

He ran off home realising that he had forgotten to unplug the iron.

Another similar phrasal verb is "to run off with something"; the person who runs off with something also leaves the place suddenly but because he/she has stolen something; this is the difference between "to run off a place" and "to run off with something".

As I was waiting for my friend in front of a grocery store, I saw a boy running off with a big bag of sweets.

Next one is "…Senator Sam ran off a few lines of poem…", here "to run something off" is to write something that is usually difficult to write such as a piece of poetry or music.

It's amazing! That boy can run off a piece of music in just an hour. 

What about this part "…handed it to his secretary who ran off 5 copies…", when you run off copies of a piece of writing you produce them by using a machine; which is by either by photo copying or by printing it.

When all the typing errors are corrected, run me off twenty copies please.

And the final part, "…to be given to his team at the run-off campaign that afternoon."

The noun 'run-off' refers to an extra race, competition or election to decide the winner because the two teams or candidates have got the same number of points or votes etc.

The German team won by scoring two goals during the run-off.

After reading all of the above explanations, I hope you will not have any problem finding out the meaning of "run-off" in the headline "US, EU push for fair run-off in Zimbabwe".

Complete the sentences using the explanation explained

1. Julie has a very strong poetic talent; she started writing poetry ever since she was in grade two and now she can ...... a long ballad in no time.

2. Mr Smith told me that his maid ...... his wife's diamond ring and the lady is very upset.

3. The two parties received equal seats in the general election so a ...... is scheduled to determine the winner.

4. After four years in a troubled marriage, Julie ...... with her college sweetheart.

5. Susan asked me to ...... her ......15 copies of this but our machine has broken. Do you have any idea where else I can get it done?

Answers: 1. run off, 2. ran off with, 3. run-off, 4. ran off, 5. run…off

By Parnsap Yomanage