I have a question about preposition ‘of’ and ‘on’.
If I explain about the book, especially topic,
a). This book is on Gandhi.
b). This book is of Gandhi.
I think, these two sentences are same meaning. But if not, please tell me why.
Thank you.

Question

I have a question about preposition ‘of’ and ‘on’.
If I explain about the book, especially topic, 
a). This book is on Gandhi.
b). This book is of Gandhi.
I think, these two sentences are same meaning. But if not, please tell me why.
Thank you.

Answer

I grew up with "a book about," however the New Oxford American Dictionary and the Collins dictionary give "a book on."

A Google Ngram shows "book on" is more common that "book about."

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=book+about%2C+book+on&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbook%20about%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cbook%20on%3B%2Cc0

Answer

Hi, Kota!

The best preposition in this case isn't "of" or "on," but "about." Since the book covers Gandhi as a topic, you should say "this book is about Gandhi." While some speakers will use "on" for "about" in highly informal situations, it doesn't happen often. As for "this book is of Gandhi," that sounds very awkward and unclear.

I hope my answer helps. Please let me know if it doesn't.

Answer

'This book is of Gandhi' is incorrect.
Both 'on' or 'about' are correct.

'on' and 'about' are *almost* identical in meaning and often interchanged, but there is a subtle difference.
You specifically use 'on' when you want to say the information DIRECTLY relates to Gandhi
You specifically use 'about' when you want to say the information INDIRECTLY relates to Gandhi. ie it concerns Gandhi, but may not necessarily be 'on' Gandhi.

Answers · 6

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