hear
 

If John wants to say he does not have the experience of hearing people use a certain phrase, could he use of in the blank?


-John's never heard __ it.

My friend says with or without of, they are the same; but using of sounds wrong to me.(Since it is talking about actually hearing things, then of should be wrong; if you use of, it means you know about the existence of it; but I'm not so sure)

Re: hear
 

The two have different meanings.

To have heard of something = to know it exists
To have heard something = to have listened to it.

So eg
I have heard of the song "Stand by me" but I have never heard it
= I know it exists but I've never had the experience of listening to it.

I've never heard of the expression "cool as a cucumber" = I didn't know it existed.
I've never heard anyone using the expression "cool as a cucumber" = I know it exists but no-one has ever said it while I was listening.

Re: hear
 

Excellent answer. Thank you.