Total Comes <Out> To

[NatashiaA]

[1] "The total comes to $100."
[2] "The total comes out to $100."

Could there be usage errors in one of the sentences?

[Bennevis]

Both sound correct.

[Bennevis]

"comes up to" is also possible.

[Raymott]

[1] "The total comes to $100."
[2] "The total comes out to $100."

Could there be usage errors in one of the sentences?

I've never heard 2. Maybe somewhere in the world they say it.
1. is correct everywhere.

[Amigos4]

I've never heard 2. Maybe somewhere in the world they say it.
1. is correct everywhere.

Raymott, you really must get out of the house more often! A quick jaunt through Google provided 437,000 results for "the total comes out to..." "The total comes out to" - Google Search

I've used the expression many times (but I prefer to add the word 'be', as in 'the total comes out to be'...) The expression is commonly used in AmE.

I agree with Bennevis: Both sound correct.

[5jj]

Raymott, you really must get out of the house more often! A quick jaunt through Google provided 437,000 results for "the total comes out to..." "The total comes out to" - Google Search

How many times do we have to say that google searches are not a reliable guide to acceptability?

The Corpus of Contemporary American and the Google Books Corpus are rather more reliable places to check this sort of information. The former has 13 citations for 'total comes to' and none (that's right, none) for 'total comes out to'; the figures for the latter are 1,362 for 'comes to' and 50 for 'come out to'.

What did Raymott say?

I've never heard 2. Maybe somewhere in the world they say it. 1. is correct everywhere.

Hmm. Right again, Ray.

[Tdol]

Interestingly, Google only gave me 177,000 results for "the total comes out to" against 642,000 without out. 2) is clearly in use, but I can't see that it adds anything- it's a bit like off of.

[emsr2d2]

I agree with Tdol - I think the word "out" is redundant even though frequently used.

The total is $100.
The total comes to $100.
It comes to $100.

[Raymott]

Raymott, you really must get out of the house more often!

If this bizarre form is not used in Australia, getting out more wouldn't help me much unless by "getting out" you mean travelling to the US. Surely I'd do better to stay in and watch American TV?

[Bennevis]

I'm really surprised at so much resistance to using "out", when native speakers have been saying so for countless years.