outside: ✓ outside ✗ out of

By | October 5, 2016
outside
out of
Adventure is not outside man; it is within.
L’avventura non è fuori dall’uomo; è dentro.
– George Eliot
✓ I’ll meet you outside the cinema at three o’clock.
✗ I’ll meet you *out of* the cinema at three o’clock.
Ci vediamo fuori dal cinema alle tre.
✓ When we came out of the cinema, the gang were waiting for us.
Quando siamo usciti dal cinema, la banda ci stava aspettando.
Outside generally does not indicate any movement. When someone or something is outside a place, they are near it, in front of it, etc. In the following example, John is probably in front of the entrance to the library:
✓ He was standing outside the library smoking.
✗ He was standing *out of* the library smoking.
Era fuori dalla biblioteca a fumare.
The expression out of used with a verb of movement often indicates from inside to outside:
✓ She ran out of the room crying.
✗ She ran *outside* the room crying.
E’ corsa fuori dalla stanza piangendo.
It is possible to use outside with a verb of movement, when it means “outdoors”, “not in a building”:
✓ It’s a lovely day, kids – why don’t you go outside and play?
E’ una bellissima giornata, bambini – perché non andate fuori a giocare?
We can use out of in the sense of “away from”. For example:
✓ I’ll be out of the office until Friday.
✗ I’ll be *outside* the office until Friday.
Sarò fuori ufficio fino a venerdì.
✓ We need a weekend out of town.
Abbiamo bisogno di un finesettimana fuori città.
(Outside the office would mean near the office, for example in the corridor. Outside town would mean not in the town but near it.)
Outside can be a noun, a preposition or an adjective. For example:
✓ The outside of the building is in poor condition. (NOUN)
✓ The outside walls are in poor condition. (ADJECTIVE)
✓ We visited a beautiful castle just outside the city. (PREPOSITION – outside = not in but near)
Finally, note that we use out of in a large number of idiomatic expressions, including out of action/order/service (fuori servizio), out of breath (senza fiato), out of date (antiquato/superato), out of work (disoccupato), etc.

out_of_work
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