Drop off means to take someone somewhere by car and let them out, or to leave something somewhere on your way. It is used for children taken to school, for passengers and for parcels: “drop off a parcel at the post office”. In informal speech, the phrase has a second meaning: to fall asleep.
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drop + person + off at + place; drop off + thing; drop off (= fall asleep)
- The taxi dropped us off right outside the hotel entrance.
- Can you drop off these documents at the accounts office on your way out?
- I was so tired after the flight that I dropped off during the film.
What changed
First versionCould you drop me off to the station on your way to work?
RevisionCould you drop me off at the station on your way to work?
“To” may seem right because the car is moving towards the station. But “drop off” names the place where the person gets out, and that place needs “at”: “drop me off at the station”.
When “drop off” is about the person themselves and nothing follows it, it usually means “fall asleep”, in an informal way: I dropped off in front of the TV. If the sentence says who or what is being taken and where, it is about a journey.
Your turn
Every morning I ___ my daughter at school on my way to work, and my husband collects her at four.
Show the answer
drop off — In the morning, the daughter is taken to school and left there, so “drop off” is right. “Pick up” means to collect someone, but it is the husband who collects her at four, and in the morning she is being taken to school.
Describe a trip where you give someone a lift or drop something off. Say who or what you take and where.
Every Saturday I drop my grandmother off at the market and pick her up two hours later.
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