Angry, he went out the door

Question

Angry, he went out the door!! VS. He, (who is) angry, went out the door!! I think there is a meaning difference between them? And actually the latter is kind of awkward? What do you feel about it? Thank you so much.PS. He went out of the door or he went out the door? Is there a meaning difference? Thank you for sharing your time and helping.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Angry, he went out the door VS. He, (who is) angry, went out the door I think there is a meaning difference between them? -- I see none.
And actually the latter is kind of awkward? -- Yes, to the point of uselessness.

He went out of the door or he went out the door? Is there a meaning difference? --No, but you will find some prescriptivists that call 'of' redundant and wrong, even though both forms are in common use.

Enoon · Answer

Mister Micawbere went out of the door or he went out the door? Is there a meaning difference? --No, but you will find some prescriptivists that call 'of' redundant and wrong, even though both forms are in common use.

Here's one. It's not prescriptive to help learners not sound dopey. They might both be in common use, but by whom and when?

Mister Micawber · Answer

enoonThey might both be in common use, but by whom and when?

By me, for one. The fact remains that COCA produces almost 200 examples of 'out of the door'— less than for 'out the door' but still enough to indicate its validity:

http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4113159&ID=673461073	A	B	C	'm doing. " # One afternoon, Tiffany ducked her head out of the door to the garage and spotted Taylor, in his canary yellow nuclear-technician's coveralls,
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4102953&ID=655000009	A	B	C	didn't get when the company suddenly shutdown. And you were out of the door with nothing? ALAN-HARPER-1Form: Yeah. JOHN-BLACKSTONE: Alan Harper worked as a maintenance technician at
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4085444&ID=642795534	A	B	C	a minute to evaluate her before Stevens started trying to push her out of the door. " She paused, holding her egg roll halfway to her mouth. "
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4090429&ID=644443242	A	B	C	the middle of the Sahara Desert. I knew I'd walked out of the door looking like a million bucks, but his admiration upped my ante to about a
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4121036&ID=663175097	A	B	C	the same man, this time wearing different clothes. He stepped out of the door and Ambrose rushed in. Oh, delicious warmth. # " Whoa, "
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4121151&ID=662602813	A	B	C	rebuild their marriage. # Pulling on her gloves, Kate stepped out of the door of the Angel Inn and into the gray afternoon. Guildford was bustling, as
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4121232&ID=662264728	A	B	C	the kitchen reacted to the sound of his footsteps by # scuttling out of the door to take refuge under a nearby hedge. # Luca had no fear of rats
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4121578&ID=664785680	A	B	C	the corridors. # On the visuals, Soseki's bodyguards came out of the door, with Soseki in the middle. Romey frowned. She hadn't realized just
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4121578&ID=664792435	A	B	C	to miss, even for the worst investigator. # DeRicci leaned out of the door of her office. She felt uncomfortable giving poor Hansel commands over her links.
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4122020&ID=664907308	A	B	C	flight, my plane touched down in Kinshasa. As I walked out of the door, the main building of the airport looked like a long-distance coach station in a
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4085350&ID=642920602	A	B	C	and help. Just as she was about to slip her eye out of the door and ease it closed, Takacha buzzed " None of my compatriots would ever betray
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4089988&ID=646249797	A	B	C	she needed to do to lure her aunt back toward her and out of the door. " Well, it smells to me like I have fantastic timing, "
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4090171&ID=644394929	A	B	C	singlesuit and a thermal jacket, both of aristocratic silver, stepped out of the door, letting it slide closed behind him, a wonder that he had become used
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4088725&ID=652182858	A	B	C	could be rather more precipitate. Twenty-year-old Joel Konig was virtually pushed out of the door of his Berlin home in August 1942, when his family's deportation notice came
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4088725&ID=652182924	A	B	C	!' With that, he recalled,' she ushered me out of the door without a kiss or a shake of the hand.' He would never see
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4072407&ID=514635610	A	B	C	of change, you know, hit him right as he walked out of the door because, you know, we're talking about advocacy journalism. You know,
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4072496&ID=515025455	A	B	C	fire that happened and he'd go, I'm just running out of the door right now, they're evacuating the hotel. If I don't make it
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4040470&ID=494189459	A	B	C	so late, " my Aunt Rhonda said, taking her keys out of the door so not yet looking at my mother. " The first movie was sold out
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4040750&ID=494374620	A	B	C	partner. # Then it was Chase's turn. He darted out of the door-the sun glinting off his blond highlights much the same way it had off Grant's
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4052491&ID=493748458	A	B	C	the women of the quarter would see me off as I came out of the door of the house. They'd take me inside the Righteousness Mosque. They'd
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4071963&ID=492149076	A	B	C	, he was still sitting out there, and if one peeped out of the door, a tiny orange light could be seen under the lemon tree as he continued
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4076097&ID=519007975	A	B	C	Sunday, but I stopped him just as he was goin' out of the door with four heads strung on a string, for all the airth like a string
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4051705&ID=499856918	A	B	C	out of the windows. Where he dreamed. Where he walked out of the door every day. Wanted to see what's around his neighborhood in Winnipeg. And
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x4.asp?t=4025853&ID=631087966	A	B	C	said he'd got to go on duty. And he walked out of the door and out of our lives. (Footage-of-street) Mr-NEIL-ROPER: (Voiceover) Boxing Day is generally a

Khoff · Answer

enoon, I'm trying to decide whether it's progress that you are now saying people who disagree with you "sound dopey" instead of "sound stupid" -- I haven't quite decided yet!

Enoon · Answer

Can we stick to the original context? Of course there are settings where "out of" is correct. But "He went out of the door" is non-standard, a confusion with "out of doors". You don't throw things out of a window, either. Suffice it to say that I am not alone in this opinion, and that such constructions are therefore best avoided in formal writing. If you disagree, so be it, but we are still out there thinking you sound, um, non-standard.

Khoff · Answer

enoonbut we are still out there thinking you sound, um, non-standard.

I like "non-standard" so much better than "dopey" or "stupid." Thank you!

BillJ · Answer

enoonBut "He went out of the door" is non-standard, a confusion with "out of doors". You don't throw things out of a window,

I'm sorry to tell you that's wrong. It's actually a matter of dialect.

In AmE, "out" can sometimes take an NP complement, and is thus seen as a prep, but in BrE it is traditionally considered an adverb and thus requires the prep "of". The on-line Oxford dictionary says that "He ran out the door" is a non-standard contraction of "out of", which is the precise opposite of what you say!

"Out the door" and "out the window" may be grammatical in AmE, but not in BrE. "He went out of the door" and "He threw something out of a window" are normal in BrE - dropping the "of" makes them ungrammatical to most (but not all) BrE speakers.

enoonsuch constructions are therefore best avoided in formal writing

Dropping the "of" in formal BrE writing would generally be criticised, almost to the point of being laughable.

BillJ

Enoon · Answer

BillJDropping the "of" in formal BrE writing would generally be criticised, almost to the point of being laughable.

And that's why I love these little spats. That's also why I come off so adamant—so there is a stationary target for rebuttal.

Angry, he went out the door

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