why you add 'of' here
In the two sentences
"It asked questions—the kind a newspaper asks of public officials."
"That was the last time I saw of him."

Why you add "of" here when it can be dropped.

Question

why you add 'of' here
In the two sentences
"It asked questions—the kind a newspaper asks of public officials."
"That was the last time I saw of him."

Why you add "of" here when it can be dropped.

Answer

Those sentences don't really make any sense, but I know what you mean.

As in:

It was the last I heard OF him.
I've never heard OF her.

In the sentences I've written above, OF has the same meaning as ABOUT.

It was the last I heard ABOUT him.
I've never heard ABOUT her.