ENGLISH
REFERENCE

out of sth

prep. phr..
A1 Beginner Oxford

prep. phr.. To have no more of something left. You use this when you have used all of something, like sugar or coffee, and now there is none.

prep. phr.. A prepositional phrase indicating the depletion or exhaustion of a supply.


SIMPLE

We are out of milk.

CONTEXTUAL

I can't print the report because the printer is out of paper.

COMPLEX

The expedition was forced to turn back after discovering they were almost out of rations with three days still to go.

Usage

This phrase is very common with the verbs 'to be' and 'to run' (e.g., 'we are out of...' or 'we have run out of...').

Teaching tip

Contrast 'be out of' (a state) with 'run out of' (a process): 'We ran out of bread yesterday, so today we are out of bread'.

Pitfall

We are out of the milk.We are out of milk.When talking about a general supply that has been used up, you usually don't use an article like 'the'.

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