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Fri 9 Jun, 2006 06:02 am
In our exercise book ,there is a maltol choice:"Through his genius ,he changed his early experience into a fair tale".Why can't I use "out of"?
We usually use "out of" when we want to suggest a point of origin. For example, we could say "This decision came out of a debate over the issues." Here, the decision originated with the debate; the debate resulted in the decision. "Out of" can also mean the actual material from which something comes or from which it is made, such as "He built a house out of bricks."
In your sentence, "his genius" is neither a point of origin nor the material from which something is made. "His genius" is the thing that enabled something else to happen. "His early experience" did not come from his genius (in the same way a decision comes out of a debate), nor was it made out of his genius (in the same way a house is made out of bricks); rather, "his early experience" was changed with the help of his genius.
shapeless I may be confusing the issue, however I believe "made out of" is poor grammer. Yes it is common but "he made a house of brick" is much better english.
Hmm... I wasn't aware that it was considered bad English. "...of brick" does sound better, you're right.