If so, my analysis amounts to a rule in search of actual usage—a prescription rather than a description. In any event, the impressive rise of "free of" against "free from" over the past 100 years suggests that the English-speaking world has become more receptive to using "free of" in place of "free from" during that period.
I don't think there's any difference in meaning, although "free of charges" is much less common than "free of charge". Regarding your second question about context: given that English normally likes to adopt the shortest phrasing possible, the longer form "free of charge" can be used as a means of drawing attention to the lack of demand for ...
I had always understood 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' as a expression to demonstrate the economics concept of opportunity cost - whereby even if the lunch is fully paid for, one loses the opportunity to spend that time doing anything else.
My company gives out free promotional items with the company name on it. Is this stuff called company swag or schwag? It seems that both come up as common usages—Google searching indicates that the
In the context such as "free press", it means libre from censorship, "gluten-free" means libre from gluten and so on. Then there is "free stuff", why is the same word used?
Similarly, “free education” is funded by the state (which is ultimately financed by taxpayers) and taught in state-run schools called state schools whereas schools that charge tuition fees are termed private schools. A private school in the US typically means fee-taking. Confusingly, in the UK, they are known as public schools.
If you are storing documents, however, you should choose either the mediumtext or longtext type. Could you please tell me what free-form data entry is? I know what data entry is per se - when data is fed into some kind of electronic system for processing - but I don't know how to understand the term free-form. Any thoughts? Thank you.
I want to make a official call and ask the other person whether he is free or not at that particular time. I think asking, “Are you free now?” does't sound formal. So, are there any alternatives to...
