Overhaul trips up more non-native speakers on this one point than on anything else about the word: as a verb, it takes its object directly, with no preposition in between.
"Overhaul the process" is correct. "Overhaul of the process," used as a verb clause, is not.
Where the error comes from
The mistake is almost always the same one: importing the noun form's "of" into the verb slot. "An overhaul of the process" is correct when "overhaul" is a noun. But the moment "overhaul" is doing the work of a verb, that "of" doesn't belong.
Correct: "The leadership team wants to overhaul the vendor-approval process."
Incorrect: "The leadership team wants to overhaul of the vendor-approval process."
Correct: "Next quarter, the operations team plans to overhaul the returns process, replacing every manual step with automated tracking."
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Start learning for free →The verb goes straight into its object. Nothing sits between them.
Why this particular mistake stands out
This isn't a minor stylistic wrinkle -- it's an immediately visible, native-speaker-flagging error, and it tends to show up in exactly the sentences where sounding polished matters most: proposing a major initiative to leadership, a client, or a board. A misplaced "of" in that moment undercuts the credibility of the proposal itself, independent of how good the underlying idea is.
Keep the two prepositions mentally separate
The reverse pattern -- "an overhaul of the process" -- belongs entirely to the noun. It's correct there and nowhere else. The fix isn't memorizing one universal rule; it's holding the two forms' preposition rules apart in your head as genuinely separate facts, because assuming one covers the other is exactly how this mistake happens.
Practice scenarios
Practice the no-preposition verb pattern in situations like:
- proposing a process rebuild directly to a manager or client
- catching an "of" that's crept into a verb clause before it goes out
- switching cleanly between the verb form and the noun form in the same message
Useful practice phrases:
- "We want to overhaul [the process/system]."
- "The team plans to overhaul [X], replacing every manual step."
- Not: "...to overhaul of [X]."
The verb doesn't need help from a preposition.
Give it the object directly, and the sentence already sounds right.
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