Away and away from

We most commonly use away to mean ‘from here to another place’ or ‘disappearing from sight’:

Please go away and leave her alone.

He walked away without saying anything.

The floods were really serious this year but most of the high water has flowed away now.

Away can also mean ‘not present’ or ‘not here’:

She’s away at the moment but can I get her to ring you when she returns?

Away can refer to ‘the length of time from the time of speaking’ or to ‘the distance from a place’. It comes after the time or distance phrase:

The children are getting very excited cos our trip to China is only a week away.

The start of the football season is two months away but everyone still keeps talking about football.

The town is only three miles away.

When we talk about the distance between two places, we can use far away from:

We’re now in Rome. How far away from Rome is Naples? (the same as: How far is Rome from Naples?)

We sometimes use away from the office meaning ‘not in’. It is commonly used in email auto-replies:

[out-of-office auto-reply on an email]

I am away from the office until next Tuesday (Sept 21st) and will answer your email as soon as possible after that date.

We can use away from to refer to movement:

As he drove away from her house, he felt sad.