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I'm confused as to when to use of. I've heard "inside of a house" and "inside a house."

Which one is correct?

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  • "Inside of a house" can also refer to the parts of the house itself that are not exterior. Is that what you've heard?
    – siride
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 1:45
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    Both are correct.
    – Robusto
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 2:36
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    This is a good question for English Language Learners.
    – MetaEd
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 4:36
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    "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx
    – Tim Lymington
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 9:29
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    @TimLymington: you corrected Groucho Marx's non-standard English; the original quote is "Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 11:53

4 Answers 4

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The phrase "inside of a house" should be used as a noun, but not as an adjective or an adverb. The phrase "inside a house" should be used as an adjective or adverb, but not as a noun. Here are some examples; asterisks (*) mean an ungrammatical sentence.

The inside of his house is painted blue.
*The inside his house is painted blue.

The air inside a house is never as healthy as fresh air.
*The air inside of a house is never as healthy as fresh air.

I have never gone inside our neighbor's house.
*I have never gone inside of our neighbor's house.

Using Google, it appears that a few speakers use "inside of a house" as an adjective or adverb, but I would say this is non-standard English. It appears that only non-native speakers use "inside a house" as a noun.

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  • That Groucho Marx quote is an unrelated thing, though. ‘Outside of’ is a compound preposition meaning ‘apart from/except/besides’, rather than simply the preposition ‘outside’ with a meaningless ‘of’.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 11:46
  • @Janus: Groucho Marx uses the non-standard "inside of a dog, it's too dark to read" instead of "inside a dog" to make the construction parallel. But maybe that's too confusing ... I'll delete it.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 11:49
  • True—but it feels like that usage was specifically chosen because it’s not standard (or acceptable to most speakers).
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 11:55
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If you are discussing the presence of someone or something within the building, then you are talking about something inside the house.

If you are discussing the interior features, decoration, etc. of the structure, then then you are talking about the inside of the house.

So:

  • "The inside of the house" is referring to the interior parts of the building.
  • "Inside the house" is referring to the presence of someone or something within the building.
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Both of Them are correct but the first is more usual.

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    Please clarify why you think both are correct, and also in respect of which English speaking region you are answering the question, as usages such as this can vary between, say, US & British usages. Also, on this site, answers are expected to give some justification/reasoning to substantiate the answer.
    – TrevorD
    Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 11:47
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If you're talking about the interior of something then you use the "inside of" [the thing], this way you're referring to a characteristic of [the thing], but if you're referring to something in the interior of [the thing], then you're talking about [something] inside [the thing].

But you can always just use "inside of" all the time, unless it's an important meeting with someone smarter than you.

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