Should We Think 'Outside' or 'Outside of' the Box?

2022-02-12

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1
  • Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question about the adverb "outside" from Philip in China.
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  • Question:
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  • Hi,
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  • Could you please tell me the difference between outside of and outside? ... Please tell me which is better,
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  • We should think outside the box.
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  • We should think outside of the box.
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  • Dear Philip,
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  • Thank you for writing to us.
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  • "Outside" can have one of four uses in English, as a noun, adjective, adverb, or preposition.
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  • It is not surprising that you found it hard to understand.
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  • Your question brings up an interesting dispute between grammar experts in the United States and Britain.
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  • The Oxford English Dictionary says that "outside" in phrases like "outside of the box" is an adverb.
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  • It changes the meaning of the verb, in this case, "think."
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  • Together with the preposition "of" it becomes a two-word preposition.
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  • Here are other examples of such two-word prepositions:
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  • A baby bird flew out of the nest.
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  • He was never close to his sister.
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  • Your example uses "outside of" or "outside" to talk about the space the subject occupies.
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  • You can use either "outside" alone or with "of" in that sense.
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  • There is another use where "outside of" means "apart from" or "besides." Here are examples of that use:
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  • Outside of their later songs, I do not enjoy the Beatles' music.
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  • I cannot think of a time outside of high school when I wore a tie.
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  • The Merriam-Webster Learners Dictionary says "outside of" is a North American use.
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  • Another British dictionary, the online Oxford Dictionaries also sees the use of "outside of" to talk about location as "chiefly North American."
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  • But its use in the "apart from" sense is seen as normal for British and American English.
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  • So in British English, you would usually hear,
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  • Think outside the box.
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  • And in American English, you might hear it that way or
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  • Think outside of the box.
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  • What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com
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  • And that's Ask a Teacher.
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  • I'm Jill Robbins.