1

Is it OK to omit window in the following sentence:

Mary relaxed her body as she peered out the plane. Clear turquoise water and miles of white sand started appearing on the horizon.

Is it apparent that the person is peering out of a airplane window?

tchrist
  • 134,759
wyc
  • 13,179
  • See synecdoche – Matt E. Эллен Jul 17 '13 at 08:52
  • 1
    One would hope that the only way to peer out of a plane would be through the window, unless you plan to jump out of it soon afterwards. – ElendilTheTall Jul 17 '13 at 09:10
  • I would personally rather omit the plane than the window (assuming that it’s clear in the context that Mary is on a plane). “She peered out the plane” just sounds awkward, though of course perfectly comprehensible, to me. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 17 '13 at 11:00
  • @Janus Bahs Jacquet that's the first sentence of the novel. – wyc Jul 17 '13 at 12:36
  • In BrE, we would say "she peered out of the plane" and "she peered out of the window". Is just "out the plane" standard in AmE? – TrevorD Jul 17 '13 at 12:40
  • @TrevorD See this related answer. Consider tossing someone out the back door or even peeing out the back door, or the classic throwing the baby out the window a new toy. :) In general, RP likes to add an extra particle to these things that just looks superfluous in North America. – tchrist Jul 17 '13 at 13:13
  • Mary was a WRAF. She peered out of the Sopwith Dolphin before dropping the grenade she had in her hand. I got that picture in my mind when you used peered out of a plane – mplungjan Jul 17 '13 at 14:07
  • I would say she peered out of the plane but peered out the window. – Andreas Blass Jul 18 '13 at 03:32
  • Also, you may be thinking of P A N E, a window pane, a pane of glass. – Fattie Jul 31 '14 at 17:00

2 Answers2

4

You can't "peer out the plane"; when you peer out (X), then (X) is the object through which you are peering. Unless the entire plane is made of glass or other transparent material, it is not a suitable object for being peered out.

You can, however, peer out OF the plane; in this case, "the plane" is the location from which you are doing your peering, and the ability to see beyond its confines is assumed.

I'd recommend "peered out the plane window" or perhaps "peered out through the plane's window".

Hellion
  • 59,365
2

I agree that "Mary relaxed her body as she peered out the plane" sounds a little awkward. Is she flying the plane? Is she ready to jump out? I would vote to say "peered out the window" and establish somewhere else that she is a passenger on the plane.

tkendrick20
  • 1,048