come out of or come out

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dido4

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Dec 23, 2005
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Hong Kong
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1. A rabbit came out of a hole.
2. A rabbit came out a hole.

Which is correct if I tell my friends that a rabbit went out of a hole?

Thank you.
 
If the rabbit emerged from a hole, 1 is correct and 2 is not. But if the rabbit went out of a hole it did not emerge, but instead departed or escaped.
 
I don't find a significant difference between "came out of a hole" and "went out of a hole".
 
Nor do I, and they both equate to "emerged from". I find "departed" very unnatural. A rabbit coming out of a hole is likely to be a wild rabbit so it probably didn't escape either. A pet rabbit might escape from its hutch.
 
Thank you for your replies.

I mean:
1. Are the two correct?
(a) A rabbit came out of a hole.
(b) A rabbit came out a hole.
2. Do they have the same meaning?
3. What does "b" mean in the sentence?

Thank you.
 
I deem (b) incorrect, but I am not a teacher.
 
b is ungrammatical.
 
You may hear b) used in colloquial speech in some places, but a) is the normal way of saying it.
 
Is it grammatical to say 'the rabbit came out a lovely animal'?
 
What do you think that means?
 
Can it mean 'the rabbit appeared as a lovely animal'?
 
No. The only meaning I would think of for "The rabbit came out a lovely animal" is the unlikely scenario that it went in (somewhere unspecified) and it wasn't lovely but it when it came out, it had become a lovely animal. I'm sure you can understand why I can't think of any context in which that could be used.
 
emsr2d2 said:
I can't think of any context in which that could be used.
Click to expand...
Can it be used in the context below?
'The ugly rabbit went into a magic box and then came out a lovely animal.'
It appeared as a lovely animal.

Not a teacher.
 
You can make a convoluted context for just about any grammatical sentence in English. In the situation you gave, yes, it would be understood that it went in "ugly" and it emerged "lovely". It's a shame such magic boxes don't exist though, isn't it? Not that I would put rabbits in them if they did. Rabbits are very lovely anyway.
 
You would have to find an ugly rabbit first- I have never seen one.
 
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