Oblivious of and Oblivious to

How to use "oblivious" correctly

This is an entry on my list of Common Errors in English Usage. Visit the main page for direct links to additional entries.

Although the expression oblivious of is probably preferred, oblivious to is also generally accepted. Any other preposition is unacceptable, however:

oblivious toward the chaos around her

oblivious of the chaos around her
oblivious to the chaos around her

oblivious of the oncoming truck
oblivious to my overtures

Related Resources

Common Errors in English Usage: Errors in diction and idiom commonly made by native speakers of English

List of Common Errors in English Usage (PDF): Printable version of the complete list

Common Grammar Errors: A list of common errors in grammar (topics like subject-verb agreement and parallelism) as distinct from usage

List of Common Errors in English Usage: PDF version

© 2006, 2008, and 2019 C. Brantley Collins, Jr.