You ought to shut off the electricity when you leave a room.

[touchstone]

You ought to shut off the electricity when you leave a room.
(from a textbook)
Is the use of ‘shut off’ here OK? I think it’s better to use ‘cut off’. What do you say?
Thanks.

 

[GoesStation]

Neither is natural, at least in AmE. You should turn off the lights, but there's no need to shut off the power altogether. That would usually entail opening a circuit breaker or removing a fuse, which is a bit drastic.

 

[touchstone]

Neither is natural, at least in AmE. You should turn off the lights, but there's no need to shut off the power altogether. That would usually entail opening a circuit breaker or removing a fuse, which is a bit drastic.

Thanks, GoesStation.
1. Do you mean ‘shut off the electricity’ is not OK, while ‘cut off the electricity’ is OK? What about ‘shut off the electricity supply’?
2. For the original sentence, you mean it’s OK to say ‘turn off the lights’. But how to use a phrase to say ‘turn off the lights, TV, the computer etc. in a room’?
Thanks a lot.

 

[Skrej]

1. Do you mean ‘shut off the electricity’ is not OK, while ‘cut off the electricity’ is OK? What about ‘shut off the electricity supply’?

I would only say these if you're actually talking about completely removing electrical current from the house, or at least a room. Both of them suggest a complete loss of power to the room.

When we flip off a switch, we're not actually turning off the entire electric supply to the room, we're just blocking electric current to the specific device or outlets connected to that circuit loop. The power is still there, waiting to be used.

Think of electricity as water behind a dam. Flipping a switch is like opening the dam to let water run. Cutting or shutting off the power would be akin to draining all the water from behind the dam.

If I just want the to turn off the t.v. or lights, I flip a switch. However, if I need to do electrical repairs, then I have to completely turn off all the electricity in order to avoid getting shocked while working.

For the original sentence, you mean it’s OK to say ‘turn off the lights’. But how to use a phrase to say ‘turn off the lights, TV, the computer etc. in a room’?

I would just say something like "Please shut everything off when leaving the room" or "Be sure and turn everything off when you leave."

 

[Rover_KE]

In BE, we're more likely to say 'When leaving the room for any length of time (not just to switch the kettle on or get a Marmite sandwich from the kitchen), switch the lights off and any other electrical appliance'.

 

[Raymott]

I regularly eat Vegemite (essentially the same as Marmite, I believe, but superior), and I rarely turn off things when I leave the room. I don't get the association. Is it a British thing?

 

[touchstone]

I would only say these if you're actually talking about completely removing electrical current from the house, or at least a room. Both of them suggest a complete loss of power to the room.

When we flip off a switch, we're not actually turning off the entire electric supply to the room, we're just blocking electric current to the specific device or outlets connected to that circuit loop. The power is still there, waiting to be used.

Thanks, Skrej.
You mean that when you shut off the electricity to a room, there will be no electricity supply to the room. In that case, turning on or off the switch to the lights is meaningless. They won’t work whether you turn on or turn off the switch to them. Am I right?
Thanks again.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The following is my understanding.

If you want to power down a device, flip off the switch.
If you want to stop the electricity supply to a room, cut off the electricity.

 

[GoesStation]

You mean that when you shut off the electricity to a room, there will be no electricity supply to the room. In that case, turning on or off the switch to the lights is meaningless. They won’t work whether you turn on or turn off the switch to them. Am I right?

Yes, that's correct. Where I live, it would be very odd to shut off the electricity supply when leaving a room. I did have a neighbor who always removed the battery from his truck when the temperature was forecast to drop below 0 F (-18 C), though. He was convinced the battery would freeze at such low temperatures. That none of his neighbors either removed their batteries or suffered the fate he feared did not persuade him he was wasting his effort.

 

[Skrej]

Huh, I always thought he was excited about the sandwich, but maybe he was scared of it in the video....

 

[Raymott]

I grew up with this ad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2IM37k5q48