One of those prickly grammatical things that I've never been clear on - which is correct?

He stared out of the window.

He stared out the window.

Just ran this through an online grammar check and both were deemed 100% correct - are they?

Thanks.

I think they are. The first might be more 'writing mode' and the second 'spoken mode'.
So it might depend which you choose whether you're in your character's head and speaking with his voice or not and on how your character would speak.

He stared out of the window.

He stared out the window.


I think "out of" in that context is English English, and simple "out" is American English.

I would always say "out of", although you hear "I stared out the window" all the time. Same with "jump out of" and so on.

I'd agree that on the whole it's something US English is losing quicker than we are, but it can be the other way round: they say "I took it off of the table" when I'd say "I took it off the table".

So maybe there's no actual logic to it, only usage.

Thanks, everyone.