Which expression is correct: "he ran out the house" or "he ran out of the house"?
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1Out of seems more natural to my native ear.– Good A.M.Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 18:07
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2One goes/jumps/hangs/looks out the door/window/exit but out of the house/building/hut/barn. The of is not necessary for object locatives denoting normal exits.– John LawlerCommented Mar 12, 2015 at 18:14
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@John: Or ways in ("normal" or not). I could (just about) live with "He came in the window and switched off the alarm so she could come in the door". I don't really require through there any more than I require of in OP's case.– FumbleFingersCommented Mar 12, 2015 at 18:23
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In is completely different; there's into as well to account for.– John LawlerCommented Mar 12, 2015 at 18:31
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In American English, go out the house would mean that he started somewhere, went out though the house, and ended up outside. You wouldn't use it except in some very strange circumstances (and it's such a weird expression it'd be a good idea to say "out through the house" instead).– Peter ShorCommented Mar 12, 2015 at 18:34
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5 Answers
The normal thing is "out of", especially in BrE, as in
1 He looked out of the window.
AmE tends to shorten "out of" sometimes to "out" as in
2 He looked out the window.
The statement suggests, "out of : from within to the outside of", grammatically, the second statement fits better.
"He ran out of the house" is correct.
"He ran out the house" is similar to "he ran out the clock" and might imply something to do with time as it is an unusual construction.
"He ran out of the house" is correct. run out simply means to use all of something and not have any more left. I've got money you can borrow if you run out. But, you still say 'run out of money/ideas/thoughts etc'
"He ran out of the house" is correct.
In the sentence "He ran out the house", 'out' is an adverb modifying the verb 'ran'. The subject 'he' carried out an action 'ran' ON the object 'house'. In effect, you are saying "he ran the house" and you are just modifying how he ran it.
By using 'out of' it becomes a preposition and links the action of the verb 'ran' in space and time, to the object 'house'.
