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I lived in Victory Street.

vs

I lived out in Victory Street.

What are the difference between the above two sentences? The second one which I read it on the internet. Is it correct?

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  • Using out in that contexts merely suggests that Victory Street is relatively distant from somewhere, either where the user works or lives or from the center of the city.
    – Robusto
    Mar 15, 2019 at 13:25

1 Answer 1

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Out is used before a location (generally a location using in or on) to suggest distance, either from the present location or the local centre. So "out in Victory Street" (which is weird, I'd've thought it would be on, not in) could mean either Victory Street is some way away from the present location, where the speaker is now, or from the centre of the local town, neighbourhood, city, etc.

Consider the expression "out in the country"; this refers to the countryside, the rural areas, and they are always distant from the local centre.

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    Britons live in a street; Americans live on it.
    – Robusto
    Mar 15, 2019 at 13:24
  • Well, I'm British, and I've lived on several streets in my life. Never in a street.
    – SamBC
    Mar 15, 2019 at 13:25
  • Interesting. The only time I've ever encountered in used that way is by the British: Londoners, specifically. Perhaps it is regional?
    – Robusto
    Mar 15, 2019 at 13:27
  • Well, when I lived in London for the first 13 years of my life, I lived on streets (or roads or lanes) then, too. We generally use in for neighbourhoods, estates, towns, cities, villages etc (and a village called Victory Street is not entirely implausible), and on for roads, streets, avenues, etc. There's the odd exception - if an area is named for a geographic feature you might use on, and for closes or crescents (particular types of streets) sometimes people use in. Estates particularly can use in or on a lot of the time.
    – SamBC
    Mar 15, 2019 at 13:31
  • @SamBC: Thank you for enlightening me. Would a "mews" be considered a street or a neighborhood? That one sticks out in my memory as having the "in" complement: e.g., "I live in Cardington Mews" ...
    – Robusto
    Mar 15, 2019 at 13:37

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